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THE    LANGHAM   SERIES 

AN    ILLUSTRATED   COLLECTION 

OF   ART    MONOGRAPHS 

EDITED  BY  SELWYN  BRINTON,   M.A, 


THE    LANGHAM    SERIES    OF 
ART    MONOGRAPHS 

EDITED  BY  SELWYN  BRINTON,  M.A. 
Vol.    I. BaRTOLOZZI    AM)     HIS    PuPILS     IN 

England.  ^3;  Selwyn  Brinton,  M.A. 
With  Coloured  Frontispiece  and  sixteen 
full-page  Illustrations  (xvi  +  96) 

Vol.  II. — Colour-Prints  of  Japan.  By 
Edward  F.  Strange,  Keeper  of  Prints 
in  the  Victoria  and  Albert  Museum. 
With  two  Coloured  and  numerous  full- 
page  Illustrations  (xii  +  85) 

Vol.  III. — The  Illustrators  of  Mont- 
MARTRE.  By  Frank  L.  Emanuel.  With 
two  Coloured  and  numerous  full-page 
Illustrations  (viii  -f  8  5) 

Vol.  IV. — AuGusTE  Rodin.  By  Rudolf 
DiRCKs.  With  two  Photogravures  and 
eleven  full-page  Illustrations   (viii  +  72) 

Vol.  V. — Venice  as  an  Art  City.  By 
Albert  Zacher.  With  two  Photo- 
gravures and  numerous  full-page  Illus- 
trations (viii +  88) 

Vol.  VI. — London  as  an  Art  City.  By 
Mrs.  Steuart  Erskine.  With  one 
Etching  and  sixteen  full-page  Illustra- 
tions (viii +  95) 

Vol.  VII. — Nuremberg.  'By  H.  Uhde- 
Bernays.  With  two  Coloured  and 
numerous  full-page  Illustrations 

(viii +  85) 


\'oL.  Vlll. — The  Eighteenth  Century 
tN  English  Caricature.  By  Selwyn 
Brinton,  M.A.  With  two  Coloured 
and  sixteen  full-page  Illustrations 

(viii  +  96) 

Vol.  IX. — Italian  Architecture.  By 
J.  Wood  Brown,  M.A.  With  numerous 
full-page  Illustrations  (viii  +  88) 

Vol.  X. — Rome  as  an  Art  City.  By 
Albert  Zacher.  With  numerous  full- 
page  Illustrations  (viii  +  95) 

Vol.  XI. — J.  F.  Millet.  By  R.  Muther. 
With  two  Photogravures  and  ten 
full-page  Illustrations  (viii  +  72) 

V^ol.  XII.— J.  M.  Whistler.  By  H.  W. 
Singer.  With  one  Photogravure  and 
sixteen  full-page  Illustrations 

(viii +  83) 

Vol.  XIII.  — Goya.  By  Richaro 
Muther.  With  one  Photogravure 
and  sixteen  full-page  Illustrations 

(viii  +  64) 

Vol.  XIV. — Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti. 
By  H.  W.  Singer.  With  thirteen 
full-page  Illustrations.  (viii  +  73) 

/';  Preparation 

Moorish    Citifs    of    Spain.      By  C.   G. 

Gallichan. 
Oxford.      By  H.  J.  Masse. 
Pompeii.     By  R.  Muther. 

These  volumes  will  be  artistically  pre- 
sented and  profusely  illustrated,  both  with 
colour  plates  and  photogravures,  neatly 
bound  in  leather. 


CallcctioH,  Biri 


DANTE  GABRIEL 
ROSSETTI 


BY 


H.   W.  .SINGER 
'2.  (^  S5  8: 


CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

153-157  FIFTH  AVENUE,  NEW  YORK 
1906 

Z.  t,  ©  5  8 


All  rights  rescrz-ed 


\H 


\J 


CONTENTS 
I 

Rossetti's  Early  Life — Pre-Raphaelitism — T^e  Germ — 
Decorative  Art — The  Blessed  Damozel  —  E.  E. 
Siddal — Ford  Madox  Brown — Ruskin  .         Pp.  1-50 

II 

Rossetti's  Art — The  Dante  Pictures — Beata  Beatrix — 
The  Arthurian  Legend — Romanticism — Lady  Lilith 
— Proserpine — The  Beloved — Dr,  Johnson  at  the 
Mitre — Moral  Pictures       .         .         .         Pp.  50-66 

III 

Short  Biographical  Sketch — List  of  Rossetti's  Principal 
Works  in  Public  and  Private  Collections  .  Pp.  66-73 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

I.  The  Beloved  ......     Front isj>iece 

Facing 

pag;e 

II.  Portrait  of  Rossetti  bv  Himself         ...  2 

III.  The  Annunciation  ......  6 

IV.  The  Girlhood  of  Mary  Virgin    ....  10 
V.  LucREziA  Borgia     .......         14 

VI.  Dante  Meeting  Beatrice  in  Paradise           .         .  22 

VII.  Elizabeth  Eleanor  Siddal     .....  36 

VIII.  Beata  Beatrix       .......  4.0 

IX.  Joli  Cceur 44. 

X.  Lady  Lilith  ........  50 

XI.  Proserpine 56 

XII.   Study    for    Principal     Figure    or     the     Blessed 

Damozel      ........  60 

XIII.  Dante's  Dream 64 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

ATTENTION  has  repeatedly  been  drawn 
l\  to  the  fact  that  in  recent  years  we  have 
JL  Mi.  numbered  among  our  artists  men  who, 
in  their  many-sided  activity,  remind  us  of 
the  Master-spirits  of  the  Renaissance.  Former 
barriers  have  been  broken  down,  and  we  are  now 
able  to  speak  about  art  instead  only  of  the  artist. 
Similarly,  we  find  that  architects — who  not  so  long 
since  were  merely  men  of  the  compass  and  the 
ruler,  with  difficulty  accomplishing  a  passable  ele- 
vation in  water-colour — now  are  decorative  artists, 
who  do  not  dream  of  leaving  to  a  strange  painter 
the  task  of  giving  their  work  the  charm  of  suitable 
colouring  and  form.  They  even,  on  occasion, 
model  with  their  own  hands  all  the  plastic  decoration 
which  they  themselves  have  designed. 

Watts  and  Leighton  were  masters  of  sculpture  as 
of  painting, — Legros,  StaufFer,  above  all,  Klinger, — 
adepts  in  the  field  of  engraving  and  lithography, 
and  Klinger  has  even  written  an  important 
dissertation  on  the  Theory  of  Art.  In  short, 
we  are  reminded  of  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  of  Buo- 

A 


2         DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

narotti  and  Raphael  SantI,  each  of  whom  was   no 
less  active  in  the  most  different  fields  of  art. 
(iv  In    those  days    genius  strove   to    play  a    many- 

sided  part  in  a  culture  whose  highest  standard  was 
the  understanding  possessed  by  the  artist  for  the 
noble  sister  art  of  poesy.  This  applies  so  little  to 
our  days  that  it  may  seem  absolutely  incompre- 
hensible to  many  of  our  artists.  But  Raphael  was 
not  content  to  excel  as  architect,  painter,  and 
director  of  the  graphic  arts  ;  it  was  not  enough  for 
Michael  Angelo  to  be  only  a  sculptor,  architect, 
and  painter — they  aimed  at  yet  further  laurels.  Both 
have  sought  to  express  themselves  in  sonnets. 

Their  verse  has  not  remained  of  equally  living 
interest.  We  need  not  occupy  ourselves  with 
Raphael's  few  stanzas,  which  are  forced  and  ill- 
rounded.  Even  the  more  pretentious  rhymes  of 
Michael  Angelo  only  represent  for  us  so  many 
lifeless  words.  The  groundwork  of  their  thought 
lies  on  "a  few  platonic  ideas  and  some  Petrachian 
anti-theses." 

If  we  consider  the  matter  well  we  have  no  cause 
'  for  wonder.  The  work  of  the  creative  artist,  the 
outcome  of  feeling,  and  that  of  the  poet  which 
originates  in  thoughts  and  ideas,  are  each  not  only 
completely  different,  but  seem  to  be  at  variance 
with  one  another.  The  fact  that  we  know  very 
learned  men,  critical  spirits,  who  were  also  famous 
poets  does  not  affect  this  contention. 

All  the  more  important,  therefore,  must  the  man 
appear  to  us  who  is  the  one  exception  to  this  rule, 


H.  Spiehnann' s  CoUecHon 

PORTRAIT  OF   ROSSETTI   BY   HIMSELF 
(Pencil  Drawing) 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


the  man  who  indeed  unites  in  himself  the  attributes 
of  a  great  poet  and  a  great  painter.  Gabriel  Charles 
Dante  Rossetti  himself  believed  that  it  was  his  poetic 
creations  that  would  keep  his  memory  green. 

Be  that  as  it  may,  for  the  majority  at  the 
present  day,  who  undoubtedly  are  more  attracted 
by  formative  than  by  poetic  art,  he  is  above  all  the 
celebrated  painter.  I  may  at  once  remark  that  in 
Rossetti's*  case  there  are  only  a  very  limited  number 
of  people  who  would  at  all  consider  the  point ;  for 
how  few  know  much  about  Rossetti  except  from 
hearsay  !  Even  in  England  only  a  comparatively 
small  circle  had  any  opportunity  of  seeing  his  works 
during  the  long  period  which  lies  between  the  time 
when  he  first  came  to  the  fore  and  his  death. 
They  passed  in  many  cases  straight  from  his  studio 
into  the  possession  of  the  patron,  without  being 
publicly  exhibited  in  the  interim.  It  is,  of  course, 
well  known  that  Rossetti  was  the  chief  founder  of 
the  Pre-Raphaelite  school,  whose  strivings,  though 
ridiculed,  were  afterwards  recognised  as  one  of  the 
most  powerful  and  productive  germs  in  the  de- 
velopment of  nineteenth-century  art.  Yet  who  is 
aware  that  the  Pre-Raphaelitism  which  was  then 
laughed  at  was  something  quite  different  from  that 
whose    immense  influence   is  now  so  fully  appre- 

*  Editor's  Note. — I  believe  that  some  (and  perhaps 
many)  among  my  readers  will  prefer  to  endorse  Rossetti's 
own  view,  as  above  stated.  His  marvellously  imaginative 
art  suffers  from  technical  defects  from  which  his  verse  is 
free. 


4         DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

ciated  ?  In  fact,  two  entirely  different  things 
are  denoted  by  one  and  the  same  term — "  Pre- 
Raphaelitism."  On  the  one  hand,  the  impetus 
which  Rossetti  first  gave,  and  which  afterwards, 
when  other  masters  had  further  worked  it  out, 
became  of  so  much  importance  for  our  art  life  ;  and, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  style  which  Rossetti  in 
course  of  time  created  for  himself,  which,  however, 
was  neither  derived  from  the  movement  of  his  youth- 
ful period  nor  exercised  any  widespread  influence 
on  others. 

We  are  frequently  astonished  at  the  diversity  of 
genius  in  its  manifestation.  Sometimes  it  seems  as 
if  we  could  explain  this  manifestation,  as  if  we  could 
recognise  signs  which  explain  its  entry  into  our 
world.  Sometimes,  however,  the  man  of  genius  ap- 
pears one  knows  not  how  nor  why.  As  far  as  Rossetti 
is  concerned,  he  belongs  to  those  about  whom  we 
may  say  in  addition  that  such  exceptional  conditions 
could  not  fail  to  produce  an  exceptional  personality. 
The  admixture  of  race  is  in  itself  interesting.  He 
was  three  parts  Italian,  one  part  English,  yet  by 
birth  and  residence  an  Englishman.  It  was  thus 
possible  for  him  to  influence  the  culture  of  his 
day  in  a  new  direction  by  his  Italian  nature  as 
no  one  who  was  only  a  native  could  have  done,  yet 
in  a  way  which  a  complete  foreigner,  lacking  the 
^'British  side  of  his  nature,  could  not  possibly  have 
accomplished. 

The  observation,  therefore,  fits  in  Rossetti's  case 
as  with  many  other  of  our  great  men  that  Nature 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI  5 

apparently  does  not  at  one  first  attempt  produce  a 
genius.  A  race  goes  on  reproducing  itself  in 
mediocrities  till  at  last  it  suddenly  produces  a  really 
exceptional  being.  But  it  is  the  next  generation, 
the  son,  who  becomes  the  actual  genius.  We  may 
here  instance  Darwin's  father,  and,  amongst  artists, 
the  fathers  of  Raphael  Santi,  and  of  Giovanni 
Bellini.  Rossetti's  father,  too,  was  distinctly  above 
the  average.  He  was  unusually  gifted  both  as 
regards  character  and  intellect.  Although  he  could 
not  himself  attain  the  greatest  heights,  it  was 
granted  him  to  bequeath  to  his  son  a  power  which 
thus  only  in  the  second  generation  reached  its 
highest  development.  Dante  Gabriel  himself,  even 
if  he  did  not  owe  to  his  gentle,  refined  mother  any 
of  those  qualities  which  led  up  to  his  greatness, 
yet  owed  her  much  for  the  watchful  care  with 
which  she  guarded  and  cherished  his  wonderful 
mind.  She  knew  how  to  guide  and  develop,  to  an 
unusual  degree,  the  tendencies  of  her  sons  and 
daughters.  It  is  said  that  Dante  Gabriel,  at  five 
years  of  age,  took  pleasure  in  Hamlet^  and  at  six 
wrote  dramatic  scenes  ;  while  at  ten  he  and  his 
brother  had  already  read  Faust^  most  of  Shakespeare, 
much  of  Scott,  as  well  as  The  Arabian  Nights. 

To  these  preliminary  favourable  conditions  or 
birth  and  early  education  we  must  add  another, 
which  was  continually  present  during  the  first  half 
of  his  life — the  struggle  for  his  daily  bread.  This* 
must  not  be  under-valued  as  an  active  factor  ;  for 
he  was  a  sybarite  by  nature,  and  needed  a  stimulus 


6         DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

for  creative  work.  Many  a  man  is  crippled  by 
need.  Rossetti,  however,  had  he  been  brought  up 
in  luxury  would  probably  have  achieved  little. 
We  see  him,  therefore,  at  an  age  when  the  coming 
man  is  foreshadowed,  a  youth,  but  already  ripened 
in  his  intellectual  development,  already  distinct 
from  all  other  men,  who  before  the  completion  of 
his  eighteenth  year  could  look  with  success  on 
printed  verse,  and  on  whom  the  meeting  in  his 
father's  house  with  poets,  learned  men,  and  banished 
^         patriots  had  imprinted  its  seal. ' 

After  he  had  attended  a  drawing-school  for  three 
years    he    applied    for    entrance    to    the  Academy 
Schools.     One  of  his  fellow-students  tells  us  of  his 
appearance  on  the  day  when  he  applied  for  admis- 
sion.    His  fame  had  preceded  him,  and  many  eyes 
were  directed   with   curiosity    on    the    newcomer, 
thin  and  ill-developed  for  his  eighteen  years.    Thick, 
beautiful,  and  closely  curled  masses  of  rich  brown 
unkempt  hair  fell  about  an  ample  brow  and  almost 
to  its  wearer's  shoulders.     Strongly-marked  bushy 
eyebrows   cast    heavy   shadows   over    his    deep-set 
eyes,  from    which    a    kind   of   proud    cynicism,    a 
suppressed  energy,  shone   forth  which  often   made 
V  '^      them  appear  uncanny      His  high  cheek-bones  pro- 
^^^'^    J       truded  the  more  plainly  from  his  cheeks  being  so 
•     ^  colourless   and  hollow,  betraying  the  sleep-destroy- 
^  0  ^        ing  night  work  to  which  even  then  he  had  recourse. 
^      ^  He  was  clean-shaven,  and  showed  thick,  not  to  say 
,  V  (j-^   sensuous  lips,  and  a  square,  manly  chin.  His  height 
was  below  the  medium,  his  gait  unsteady,  he  stepped 


ritotii.  .\ranscll  S^-Co 


THE   ANNUNCIATION 

"  Ecce  Ancilla  Domini" 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


with  jerky  strides  in  front  of  his  companions,  his 
hands  in  his  pockets  and,  by  a  quick  movement  or 
his  head,  throwing  his  hair  back  from  his  face. 
His  whole  attitude  indicated  challenge,  intellectual 
pride,  and  boundless  self-confidence.  His  bare 
neck,  not  too  spotless  low  collar,  and  shoes  guiltless 
of  polish,  with  a  black  frock  coat,  far  too  large  and 
well-worn,  completed  his  external  appearance.  Add 
to  all  this,  as  soon  as  he  spoke,  a  hesitating 
manner  ;  and  we  have  before  us  a  man  who  could 
not  fail  to  attract  attention — even  among  the  very 
unconventional  art  students.  And  yet — one  eye- 
witness concludes — we  never  had  the  feeling  that 
he  intended  or  cared  to  attract  attention. 

Rossetti  was  received  in  the  Academy  Schools, 
but  naturally  did  not  remain  there  long.  To  a 
Rossetti,  if  to  any  one,  the  control,  steadiness,  and 
slowness  of  such  an  institution  must  have  appeared 
insupportable.  He  recognised  that,  for  him,  the  • 
ways  of  the  Academy  were  artificial — not  artistic. 
He  could  not  persevere  there — being  in  too  great  a 
state  of  ferment  and  effervescence.  Others  might, 
if  they  liked,  proceed  by  steady  ways  comfortably 
towards  their  goal  :  he  for  his  part  had  to  rush  there, 
even  though  he  might  be  in  danger  of  getting  off 
the  track  in  his  haste.  He  had  so  much  to  express, 
and  sought  about  him  to  acquire,  quicker  than  in 
the  usual  manner,  the  means  to  give  utterance  to  all 
that  was  fermenting  within  his  mind.  He  saw 
some  works  by  Ford  Madox  Brown  which  deviated 
from  the  Academic  beaten  route;  which  perhaps  '\ 


8         DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

further  attracted  him  because  he  correctly  perceived 

that  they  lacked  the  purely  technical  exactness  of 
the  Academicians. 

This  was  the  man  for  him  ;  and  he  asked  Madox 
Brown  in  writing  whether  he  might  become  his 
pupil.  Brown  was  at  that  time  not  yet  accustomed 
to  recognition  of  any  sort.  It  throws  a  precious 
light  on  Rossetti's  letter  when  Madox  Brown 
relates  that  the  letter  was  so  overfull  of  extravagant 
expressions  that  he  thought  some  one  was  playing 
a  practical  joke  on  him.  In  order,  therefore,  to  be 
prepared  for  all  emergencies  he  took  a  stout  cudgel 
with  him  when  he  went  to  the  interview  for  which 
Rossetti  had  asked.  His  doubts  were,  however, 
soon  at  an  end  ;  and  he  accepted  his  new  pupil. 
But  he,  too,  required  of  Rossetti  that  the  learning  of 
his  profession  was  his  first  duty,  and  even  set  him  to 
copy  expressionless  bits  of  still  life.  Here,  again, 
Rossetti  did  not  find  what  he  had  really  hoped  for. 
Madox  Brown  remained  his  friend  till  death  ;  but 
Rossetti  was  actually  his  pupil  for  but  a  very  short 
time.  It  was  through  him,  however,  that  he 
became  acquainted  with  other  aspirants  of  his  own 
age. 

Dante  Rossetti  now  settled  in  a  studio  with 
Holman  Hunt,  who  was  of  the  same  age  as  himself. 
His  comrade's  example  convinced  him  of  the 
i'^  necessity  of  hard,  uninteresting  work  ;  and  his 
energy  in  this  struggle  with  his  turbulent  impulses 
was  so  successful  that,  at  the  age  of  twenty,  he 
really  could  paint  his  first  work  in  oils. 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


The  two  fellow-students  were  on  friendly  terms 
with  a  younger  colleague,  who  had  far  outstripped 
them  in  technique,  John  Everett  Millais,  in  whose 
home  one  fine  evening  in  the  year  1848  they  were 
all  looking  through  Carlo  Lasinio's  cartoon  engra- 
vings of  the  frescos  of  the  Campo  Santo  at  Pisa.  On 
that  day,  and  (one  may  well  be  astonished,  from 
looking  at  this  very  imperfect  work)  with  this 
source  of  inspiration,  one  of  the  most  powerful  Art- 
movements  of  the  century,  the  so-called  "  Pre- 
Raphaelitism,"  came  into  existence.  With  the  per- 
ceptive eye  of  a  genius  Rossetti  was  able  to  recog- 
nise from  these  thin,  poor  engravings  the  beauty 
which  Lasinio  had  had  before  him,  even  though  he 
had  been  unable  to  reproduce  it.  Each  of  these 
youths  felt  a  chord  in  his  nature  touched,  a  canon 
of  art  realised  which  all  had  surmised  but  failed 
to  define  clearly  or  to  express.  In  this  moment  of 
exaltation  they  vowed  to  one  another  to  be  disciples 
of  honest  truth  in  Art,  and  Rossetti  then  urged  the 
formation  of  a  "  Brotherhood."  What  oppressed 
them,  what  seemed  to  them  to  lie  upon  Art  like  a 
cloak  of  lead,  was  the  influence  of  Rafaelle  Santi,  or 
we  should  perhaps,  say  that  strangely  distorted  view 
of  art  which  dated  back  to  Raphael,  although  natur- 
ally he  was  only  to  blame  for  its  first  impulse  and 
nothing  further.  Ruskin  *  has  very  ably  described 
this  nightmare  :  "We  begin  in  all  probability  by 
telling  the  youth  of  fifteen  or  sixteen  that  Nature  is 
full  of  faults,  and  that  he  is  to  improve  her  ;  but 
*  Raskin's  "  Pre-Raphaelitism,"  p.  22. 


10       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


0 


that  Raphael  is  perfection,  and  that  the  more  he 
copies  Raphael  the  better;  that  after  much  copying 
of  Raphael,  he  is  to  try  what  he  can  do  himself  in 
a  Raphaelesque,  but  yet  original  manner  :  That  is 
to  say,  he  is  to  try  to  do  something  very  clever,  out 
of  his  own  head,  but  yet  this  clever  something  is 
to  be  properly  subjected  to  Raphaelesque  rules,  is  to 
have  a  principal  light  occupying  one  seventh  of  its 
space,  and  a  principal  shadow  occupying  one  third 
of  the  same  ;  that  no  two  people's  heads  in  the 
picture  are  to  be  turned  the  same  way,  and  that  all 
the  personages  represented  are  to  possess  beauty  of 
the  highest  order,  which  ideal  beauty  consists  partly 
in  a  Greek  outline  of  nose,  partly  in  proportions 
expressible  in  decimal  fractions  between  the  lips  and 
chin  ;  but  partly  also  in  that  degree  of  improvement 
which  the  youth  of  sixteen  is  to  bestow  upon  God's 
work  in  general." 

How  detestable  to  our  enthusiasts  such  rules  and 
restrictions  appeared  is  shown  by  the  reaction  which 
they  called  forth.  When  the  Brotherhood  was 
formed  its  members  swore  solemnly  that  whenever 
they  painted  a  model  they  would  reproduce  in 
Nature's  sharp*  outlines  ;  they  would  copy  without 
the  slighest  attempt  at  any  idealisation.  Each 
scene  depicted   must   be   placed  in  some  landscape 

*  Editor's  Note. — At  this  distance  of  time  it  seems  as 
easy  for  us  to  believe  that  Nature's  outlines  were  in 
England  of  "  the  forties  "  sharp  as  that  poor  Raphael  was 
ever  this  nightmare  of  oppressive  perfection. 


Tale  Gallery,  Lotidot 


Photo.  Mansell 


THE  GIRLHOOD   OF   MARY   VIRGIN 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        ii 


which  really  existed,  or  in   a  room  which  was  an 
actuality,  faithfully  depicted. 

It  was  owing  to  these  harsh  rules,  which  almost 
amounted  to  caricature,  that  they  lost,  almost  from 
the  very  beginning,  the  membership  of  Madox 
Brown.  As  a  matter  of  fact  they  themselves  scarcely 
ever  kept  strictly  to  any  of  them. 

What  attraction  indeed  had  the  Portfolios  of  the 
Campo  Santo  to  youths  imbued  with  these  ideas  ? 
As  has  already  been  said,  instinct  rather  than  reason 
was  here  at  work.  Rossetti  to  whom  all  toilsome 
learning,  all  artificial  imposition,  was  irksome,  who 
with  a  full  heart  and  impetuous  mind  was  obliged 
at  once  to  plunge  in  medias  resy  breathed  more  freely 
when  he  found  kindred  spirits.  He  saw  here  how 
powerful  feeling  completely  had  the  mastery  over 
deliberation  ;  and  yet  artistic  efficiency  was  not 
wanting.  In  fact  the  inner  life  of  these  early  masters 
was  great,  although  their  power  of  achievement  was 
small.  He  noticed  it  was  so  in  spite  of  many  an 
incorrect  drawing,  in  spite  of  much  that  was  impos- 
sible— above  all,  in  spite  of  a  complete  absence  of  all 
well-thought  out  rules  of  composition.  He  did  not 
then  doubt  for  one  moment  longer  that  he  had  found 
the  saving  word,  the  idea  that  should  bring  freedom, 
the  haughty  original  itself;  and  emblazoned  "  Pre- 
Raphaelitism"  on  his  own  and  his  followers' standard. 

He  had  as  it  were  with  one  blow  restored  his 
self-confidence,  which  had  perhaps  been  wavering  ; 
and  convinced  himself  that  he  was  not  irrevocably 
straying  on  by-paths  if  he  left  the   broad  foot-road 


12        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

of  the  craft,  in  order  to  arrive  at  his  goal  by  less 
orthodox  ways. 

This  was  for  him  the  most  essential  in  the  battle 
cry  of  "Pre-Raphaelitism;"  it  was  indeed  all  he  owed 
to  the  old  masters,  for  he  had  never  copied  them  in 
any  respect.  At  most  he  could  only  adduce  them  if 
he  were  seeking  moral  support  for  other  articles  of 
belief  in  his  artistic  creed.  One  of  these  articles  of 
faith  was  his  exclusiveness,  his  idea  of  art  for  art's 
own  sake — an  idea  which  must  stand  high  above  all 
attempts  to  use  art  merely  to  serve  other  ends.  In 
the  autumn  of  1849  this  belief  was  still  looked  upon 
as  rank  heresy.  Even  the  new  Brotherhood  which 
had  started  its  career  with  rules,  business  procedure, 
and  a  membership  of  seven  persons  did  not  dare  to 
proclaim  it  loudly  and  undisguisedly.  It  was  re- 
solved, however,  to  issue  a  paper  bearing  the  strange 
title  of  "The  Germ  :  Thoughts  towards  Nature  in 
Poetry,  Literature  and  Art,"  in  which  these  artists 
sought  to  secure  the  spread'and  recognition  of  their 
ideas  less  by  arguments  than  by  examples,  and  even 
by  poetry  and  stories.  In  the  third  number  the 
lengthy  title  was  shortened  into  :  "  The  Germ, 
being  Thoughts  towards  Nature." 

This  magazine,  of  which  four  numbers  only 
appeared,  has  much  that  is  really  remarkable  to 
show  from  Dante  Rossetti's  hand.  In  the  very  first 
number  his  story  "Hand  and  Soul  "appeared,  which 
sets  forth  the  heretic  belief  already  mentioned. 
This  it  does  with  a  strange  mixture  of  poetic  re- 
serve, capricious  narration,  and  veiled  allusions  (to 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        13 

his  own  life,  to  the  Vita  Nuova  and  other  works  or 
Dante).  It  may  well  be  assumed  that  at  that 
period,  in  spite  of  the  concluding  sentence,  very  few 
readers  can  have  understood  what  the  author  was 
aiming  at.  The  story  is,  however,  so  important  a 
document  of  his  intellectual  outlook  that  I  should 
like  to  sketch,  at  any  rate,  its  bare  outlines. 

As  a  framework  Rossetti  has  set  the  (imaginaiy) 
researches  of  an  (equally  imaginary)  German  scholar. 
Dr.  Aemmster.  He  is  supposed  to  have  discovered 
a  new  early  Italian  master,  Chiaro  dell'  Erma, 
whose  works  are  to  be  found  at  Dresden  and  in  the 
Pitti  Palace  at  Florence.  In  the  last-named  collec- 
tion, to  a  painting  of  a  single  female  figure  clad  in 
green  and  grey  drapery,  Rossetti  hangs  his  tale,  in 
order  to  relate  episodes  from  the  life  of  Chiaro. 

Chiaro,  a  noble  youth  from  Arezzo,  has  a  most 
enthusiastic  love  for  Art.  The  fame  of  Giunta 
Pisano  reaches  him,  and  he  determines  to  become 
his  pupil.  He  arrives  in  Pisa,  disguises  himself  as  a 
poor  man,  and  at  last  introduces  himself  to  Giunta, 
at  the  same  time  expressing  his  wish  to  be  accepted 
by  him  as  a  pupil.  When,  however,  he  is  shown 
into  the  studio  he  receives  a  shock  ;  for  what  he  sees 
there  are  lifeless  imperfect  forms.  He  feels  that  he 
might  himself  be  this  man's  master. 

Then  he  determines  to  work  out  thoroughly 
some  one  of  his  own  thoughts,  and  let  the  world 
know  him  as  he  is.  But  the  lesson  he  had  now 
learned,  of  how  small  a  greatness  might  win  fame, 
serves  to  make  him  torpid,  and  rendered  his  exer- 


14       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

tions  less  continuous.  In  Pisa,  too,  he  finds  a 
luxurious  life  which  poor  Arezzo  could  not  boast, 
and  wonders  that  he  had  never  claimed  his  share 
of  the  inheritance  of  worldly  beauty  and  pleasure. 
He  throws  himself  into  the  vortex. 

But  one  night  in  a  gay  company  he  hears  one 
Bonaventura^  a  young  painter  from  Lucca,  highly 
praised.  The  lamps  shook  before  him  and  the  music 
beat  in  his  ears.  He  rose  up,  alleging  a  sudden 
sickness,  and  went  out  of  that  house  with  his  teeth 
set.  He  now  took  to  work  diligently  at  Pisa,  in 
order  to  waste  no  time  through  returning  to  Arezzo. 
In  a  house  near  the  church  of  San  Petronio — 
whence  the  sounds  of  the  organ  and  the  strains  of 
the  chaunted  mass  can  reach  him,  with  a  few  books, 
his  painting  materials,  and  a  silver  statuette  of  the 
Virgin  before  which  all  summer  long  stood  a  glass 
with  a  lily  and  a  rose,  he  sat  painting  for  three  years. 
At  the  end  of  this  time  his  name  was  spoken  of 
throughout  all  Tuscany. 

It  was  for  the  race  of  fame  that  he  had  girded 
up  his  loins.  He  had  not  paused  until  fame  was 
reached  ;  yet  now,  in  taking  breath,  he  found  that 
the  weight  was  still  at  his  heart.  The  years  of 
his  labour  had  fallen  from  him,  and  his  life  was  still 
in  its  first  painful  desire.  With  all  that  Chiaro  had 
done  during  these  three  years  there  had  always  been 
the  feeling  of  worship  and  service  .  .  .  but  now  he 
became  aware  that  much  of  that  reverence  which 
he  had  mistaken  for  faith  had  been  no  more  than 
the  worship  of  beauty.     He  said  to  himself:  "  My 


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LUCREZIA   BORGIA   (REPLICA) 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       15 

life  and  my  will  are  yet  before  me  :    I  will  take 
another  aim*!  to  my  life."  ^\ 

From  that  moment  he  set  a  watch  on  his  soul, 
and  put  his  hand  to  no  other  works  but  only  to  g^^iX  V' 
such  as  had  for  their  end  the  presentment  of  some 
moral  greatness  that  should  influence  the  beholder. 
And  to  this  end  he  multiplied  abstractions  :  and 
forgot  the  beauty  and  passion  of  the  world.  So  the 
people  ceased  to  throng  about  his  pictures.  Mean- 
while he  had  no  more  of  fever  upon  him  ;  but 
was  calm  and  pale  each  day  in  all  that  he  did  and 
in  his  goings  in  and  out.  And  the  weight  was  still 
close  at  Chiaro's  heart ;  but  he  held  in  his  breath, 
never  resting  (for  he  was  afraid),  and  would  not 
know  it. 

One  day,  however,  there  was  a  great  Church 
Festival,  and  every  one  in  Pisa  was  celebrating  it. 
The  Guilds,  the  citizens,  even  kinsmen  at  enmity 
with  one  another,  all  streamed  towards  the  church 
or  to  amusements,  and  with  them  went  Chiaro's 
model.  So,  waiting  in  vain  for  his  model,  he  sat  the 
whole  long  morning  in  his  room  and  heard  the 
peals  of  the  church  bells  and  the  noise  of  the  crowd. 
Yet  he  feared  to  be  idle,  for  then  he  could  not 
escape  from  his  thoughts.  When  it  was  nearly  mid- 
day he  went  to  the  window.  The  crowds  of 
churchgoers  were  streaming  out  from  the  porch  of 
San  Petronio.  Among  them  were  a  great  number 
of  the  Gherghiotti  and  the  Marotoli,  then  the 
leading  families  of  Pisa,  but  at  enmity  with  each 
other.     An  insolent  question  was  heard  from  the 


i6       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

one  faction,  and  in  a  trice  the  rapiers  flashed  forth 

and    blood   poured  out   in  streams.      On  the  very 

^'^      '^       wall   over  which   it  trickled   down  was   the  great 

^    "^         fresco — the  Allegory  of  Peace,  which   Chiaro  had 

but  that  year  completed  for  the  church. 

Chiaro  turned  away  ;  the  sight  blinded  him — 
the  light  felt  dry  between  his  lids,  and  he  could 
not  look.  .  .  .  When  he  was  able  to  collect  ag;ain 
his  thoughts,  they  were  these  :  "  Fame  failed  me  ; 
faith  failed  me  ;  and  now  this  also — the  hope  that 
I  nourished  in  this  my  generation  of  men.  Where 
I  write  Peace,  in  that  is  the  drawing  of  swords,  and 
there  men's  footprints  are  red.  Nay,  it  is  much 
worse  with  me.  Am  I  not  as  a  cloth  drawn  before 
the  light  that  the  looker  may  not  be  blinded  ?  but 
which  showeth  thereby  the  grain  of  its  own  coarse- 
ness, so  that  the  light  seems  defiled,  and  men  say  : 
'  We  will  not  walk  by  it.'"  And  the  fever  en- 
croached slowly  on  his  veins  till  he  could  sit  no 
longer  and  would  have  risen,  but  seemed  as  if 
stricken  with  palsy  ;  but  suddenly  he  found  awe 
within  him,  as  he  saw  in  his  room  a  woman  clad  in 
a  green  and  grey  raiment  fashioned  to  that  time, 
her  hands  well  joined  ;  her  face  was  not  lifted,  but 
set  forward.  She  moved  no  closer  towards 
him  ;  yet  he  felt  her  breath,  as  if  beside  his  face. 
As  she  stood  there  her  speech  was  with  him  : 
not,  indeed,  from  her  mouth  nor  in  his  ears  ; 
but  distinctly  between  them.  She  was  the  Image  of 
his  own  Soul.  .  .  .  Rossetti  makes  this  phantom 
lady,  in  almost  Biblical  language,  condemn  (and  not 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        17 


comfort)  Chiaro  for  his  presumption  and  want  of 
courage. 

"  Fame,  in  noble  soils,  is  a  fruit  of  the  Spring, 
but  if  she  show  not  all  her  glory  to  you  must 
you  then  at  once  destroy  your  garden  ?  And  even 
if  the  year  fall  past  in  all  its  months — the  soil 
be  indeed  to  thee  peevish  and  incapable  ...  let  it 
be  enough  that  others  have  found  the  feast  there- 
from good,  and  thanked  the  giver."  Then  Chiaro 
went  slowly  upon  his  knees.  And  when  he  looked 
into  her  eyes  he  wept ;  and  she  came  to  him,  and 
cast  her  hair  over  him  and  took  her  hands  about 
his  forehead.  "  It  is  thy  complaint  that  Faith  is 
denied  to  thee  :  yet  who  bade  thee  strike  the  point 
between  Love  and  Faith  ?  And  Chiaro  held  silence 
and  wept  into  her  hair  which  covered  his  face,  and 
the  salt  tears  that  he  shed  ran  through  her  hair  upon 
his  lips  and  he  tasted  all  the  bitterness  of  shame. 
"  And  now  for  this  thy  last  purpose.  How  is  it 
that  thou,  a  man,  wouldst  say  coldly  to  the  mind 
what  God  hath  said  to  the  heart  warmly  ?  When 
at  any  time  hath  He  cried  unto  thee  :  '  My  son, 
lend  me  thy  shoulder,  lest  I  fall  ? '  In  all  that  thou 
doest  work  from  thine  own  heart  simply.  One 
drop  of  rain  is  as  another,  and  the  sun's  prism  is  in 
all.'  She  left  his  side  quietly  and  stood  up  as  he 
had  first  seen  her,  with  her  fingers  laid  together, 
and  her  long  dress  covering  her  feet,  and  called  to 
him  :  '  Now  paint  me  thus,  as  I  am,  to  know  me 
weak  as  I  am — and  in  the  weeds  of  this  time.* 
And   he  did  as  she  bade  him  without  thinking  of 

B 


i8        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

fame,  without  the  purpose  of  strengthening  himself 
in  Faith,  without  even  the  wish  to  influence  his 
fellow-men." 

This  narrative  is,  as  it  were,  framed  within  the 
fiction  of  Dr.  Aemmster,  and  of  a  supposed  visit  of 
the  narrator  to  the  Pitti  Gallery  in  1847,  where  on 
the  picture,  whose  history  is  related  above,  he  finds 
the  inscription  "  Manus  animam  pinxit  "  with  the 
date  "  1239."  We  hear  that  Italian  copyi'^ts  are 
amused  at  his  interest  in  the  work,  which  they 
explain  by  the  well-known  preference  of  the  English 
for  vague  mysticism  ;  while  a  Frenchman  leaves 
this  problem  of  criticism  with  the  words  :  "  If  it  be 
impossible  to  understand  a  thing  it  must  surely  be 
because  there  is  nothing  there  to  understand."  .  .  . 
Such  in  its  broad  outlines  is  the  gist  of  this  tale, 
which  seems  much  more  like  a  sermon,  with  the 
text  "  Art  for  Art's  own  sake."  If  any  one  in  the 
year  1849  maintained  that  Art  did  not  alone  exist 
for  purposes  of  moral  and  intellectual  improvement, 
that  its  purpose  might  even  be  pure  enjoyment, 
this  meant  a  great  deal  more  than  if  it  were  said  at 
the  present  day.  Rossetti  therein  played  the  role 
of  the  ultra-refined  artist  who  affords  a  special 
delight  to  the  select  few.  That  there  are  intelli- 
gent men  who  can  only  think  of  wishing  to  popu- 
larise art — as  is  their  attempt  even  to-day — must 
have  seemed  quite  impossible  for  him  to  conceive. 
His  conception  of  art  is  as  of  a  sacred  thing  to 
which  only  a  few  elect  can  find  the  tortuous 
way  ;    and    even    externally  his  art   displays   itself 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        19 

only  to  these  few.     This  is  shown  by  his  choice 
of  subjects. 

My  contention  that  Rossetti    did  not  wish  to 
instruct  with  his  art,  and   therefore  did  not  use  it 
in  the  first  instance  as  the  illustration  of  a  story, 
may  at  first  startle  the  reader  when  he  recalls  the 
titles  of  Rossetti's  pictures.     The  average  observer 
is  met  by  many  difficult  points  in  his  representa- 
tions of  Dante,  of  the  Arthurian  Legend,  and  of 
the  fiction  of  his    English  contemporaries.     The 
demands    sometimes   made    on    our    intellect    by 
historical  scenes  supposed  to  be  taken  from  musty 
old  chronicles  are  often  greater  than  a  learned  man, 
the  pride  of  his  university,  would  feel  equal  to,  let 
alone  one  of  us   ordinary   mortals.     Rossetti  does 
not  reckon  upon  such  exceptional  knowledge.    But 
he  does  reckon  on  that  smaller  circle  of  the  most 
advanced  in  culture.     To  this  inner  circle  he  feels 
that  the  leading  events  in  the  work  and   life  of  a 
Dante,  the  chief  outlines  of  the  Arthurian  Legend, 
the  choicest  gems  of  contemporary  poetry  will  be 
as  familiar  as  are,  to  the  general  body  of  Christians, 
the  chief  events  of  Scripture  History.     Headdresses 
himself  only  to  this  circle,  because,  as  a  matter  of 
course,  through  their  high  degree  of  culture  they 
have  the  most  complete  equipment  for  understand- 
ing him.    If  he  paints  for  this  circle  the  First  Meeting 
of  Dante  and  'Beatrice^  or  Guinevere^  or  The  Labora- 
tory^ or  Lucrezia  Borgia^  he  is  well  aware  that  they 
are  quite  competent  to  follow  him  as  easily  as  could 
the  general  public  if  he  should  use  his  art  to  portray 


20       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

**  Mary  in  the  Temple,"  "  Jesus  among  the 
Scribes,"  or  "  St.  Peter  and  St.  John  at  the  gates  of 
the  Temple." 

We  must  bear  this  in  mind  when  we  call 
Rossetti  a  Romanticist,  judging  merely  from  his 
peculiarities  of  style.  This  he  was  not  in  the  sense 
of  the  search  for  the  pathetic,  for  an  escape  from 
the  common  world.  But  that  he  could  not  help  in 
a  certain  sense  a  leaning  towards  Romanticism  is 
clear  when  we  consider  how  his  intellect  was  freed 
by  finding  such  noble  comrades  in  thought  as  the 
predecessors  of  Raphael  Santi,  and  how,  in  addition 
to  this,  he  regarded  art  as  something  esoteric,  and 
cultivated  a  comprehensive  poetic  and  literary 
knowledge  of  Dante  and  the  early  Italian  writers. 
Finally  the  painters,  too,  whose  works  he  took  as 
his  guide,  could  not  but  lead  an  artist  of  1850  to 
Romanticism.  Rossetti  commenced  his  life-work 
with  some  religious  subjects,  which  must  be  consi- 
dered quite  apart  from  the  Dante  pictures.  Instead 
of  the  dry  narrative  pictures  then  in  vogue,  which 
explain  events  quite  clearly  to  each  butcher,  baker, 
and  candlestick-maker,  in  these,  the  real  Pre- 
Raphaelite  works  of  Rossetti,  there  breathes  a 
yearning,  passionate  spirit  of  mysticism.  There  is 
nothing  of  the  simpering  or  devout  Madonna,  the 
chubby  infant,  the  stereotype  good-natured  or  ugly 
studio-model,  who  had  to  sit,  just  as  the  case 
might  be,  either  as  Joseph  or  as  a  hangman. 
Rossetti's  wonderful  Mary  is  quite  a  modern 
maid,  but  with  a  reserved  intensity  of  expression  in 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       21 

which  the  majority  perhaps  will  not  see  the  old 
well-known  piety  and  religiosity,  but  in  whom  some 
of  us  will  find  again  the  searchings  of  the  centuries 
for  the  key  to  those  inexplicable  contradictions  of 
human  fate. 

What  a  splendid  field  of  work  lay  before  this 
little  group  of  Pre-Raphaelites.  All  these  refined, 
deeply  intellectual  missionaries  of  culture  sat  to 
one  another  for  their  works ;  in  addition  to  this 
they  would  paint  their  friends,  among  whom  were 
numbered  some  who  became  afterwards  the 
greatest  poets  of  their  country.  It  must  often  be  a 
torture  to  the  artist  who  wishes  to  represent  an 
inmost  thought,  an  inspired  moment  of  emotion, 
and  only  has  at  his  disposal  the  empty  face  of  the 
professional  model,  which  in  all  probability  is  but 
the  product  of  generations  of  market  women  and 
street-sweepers.  Rossetti's  Virgins  are  taken  from 
his  sister  Christina,  the  poetess  and  author  of  the 
"  Goblin  Market,"  whose  beauty  rests  on  a  deeper 
basis  than  that  of  mere  regularity  of  feature. 

Rossetti  also  imparted  a  more  important  role  to  the 
InfantChrist  than  thatof  cheerfuldimpled  chubbiness 
and  peaceful  innocence.  And  then  all  his  persons 
do  not  act  as  befits  their  time  and  character.  They 
act  as  Mary,  Jesus,  Anna,  and  Joseph  would  never 
have  been  able  to  act ;  much  more  as  people  of 
the  present  day  would  act  if  they  were  placed  in 
the  same  position  It  is  this  which  makes  the 
average  observer  feel  that  unwonted  demands  are 
made  upon  him.     He  feels  that  it  is  possible  for 


22       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

there  to  be  a  bridging  over  between  this  anachronism 
and  his  own  soul  .  .  .  but  he  on  his  own  side  must 
add  his  quota  to  the  building  of  the  bridge,  and  this 
makes  him  feel  uneasy. 

There  was,  however,  more  than  this  in  Rossetti's 
art  at  which  his  contemporaries  could  take  um- 
brage. Madox  Brown  was  surely  one  of  the  most 
advanced  of  these,  and  his  judgment  was  in  addition 
coloured  by  intimate  friendship.  Even  he,  however, 
could  write  of  Rossetti  (Diary,  September  5,  1854) : 
"  Whatever  he  may  create  is  sure  to  be  beautiful. 
But  the  rage  for  strangeness  disfigures  his  ideas." 
Among  the  fragmentary  sentences  which  Rossetti 
himself  has  written  down,  there  is  one  word  which 
must  be  the  result  of  his  experiences  of  that  time. 
He  says  :  "  The  critic  of  the  new  school  sits  down 
before  a  picture  and  saturates  it  with  silence." 
*'  If  one  painted  Boors  drinking^  and  even  were  re- 
fined oneself,  they  would  pardon  and  in  some  degree 
revere  one.  Or,  if  one  were  a  drinking  boor  one- 
self, and  painted  refinements,  they  would  condone 
the  latter.  But  the  refined,  painted  by  the  refined, 
is  unpardonable." 

For  even  to  the  most  casual  observer  it  is  clear 
in  a  moment  that  these  events  could  not  have 
happened  as  depicted.  Speaking  of  what  lies 
nearest  at  hand,  the  Holy  Family  did  not  dwell  in 
such  rooms.  How  easy  it  was,  therefore,  for  every- 
body to  lift  their  hands  in  righteous  horror  and 
exclaim  ?  "  Shall  true  art  jest  thus  with  facts  ? 
What  is  the  signification  of  these  flames  round  the 


f.  Tenant's  Collection  Photo.  F.  Hollyej 

DANTE  MEETING    BEATRICE   IN   PARADISE 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       23 

feet  ?  What,  again,  of  these  lilies,  three  of  which, 
so  strangely  detached,  hang  down  from  the  cloth  on 
the  wall ;  while  in  the  other  picture  they,  on  one 
long  stem,  are  held  by  a  boy-angel  in  a  strange  sort 
of  vase  with  a  handle  on  a  pedestal  consisting  of 
nothing  but  folios  ?  " 

One  sees  everywhere  that  much  more  than  the 
mere  familiar  situation  speaks  to  us  from  the  pictures. 
This,  too,  is  true  of  the  non-Scriptural  works  of 
those  early  years,  such  as,  for  instance,  the  one  in 
which  a  man,  dressed  as  a  monk,  looks  round  for  a 
couple  whom  a  friend  is  anxious  to  introduce  to 
him.  What  is  here  represented  is  certainly  no 
trivial  episode,  grubbed  up  out  of  old  forgotten 
manuscripts.  A  self-evident  earnestness  speaks  from 
this  picture.  We  can  hardly  overcome  an  uneasy 
feeling  that  we  have  been  guilty  of  great  lack  of 
culture  ;  for  we  feel  that  this  painting,  with  no 
self-evident  story,  refers  to  something  which  we 
ought  to  know.  "  Dante  painting  the  Angel  on  the 
anniversary  of  Beatrice's  death  "  ;  when  this  is  the 
title  that  we  find  we  are  almost  ashamed  of  not 
having  recognised  it  at  once,  as  much  as  if  we  had 
not  recognised  Rembrandt's  '■'■Abraha?n  entertaining 
the  Angeir 

The  circumstance,  which  each  of  the  critics  of 
those  days  noticed — that  behind  these  pictures  there 
lay  a  mass  of  intellectual  culture,  acquired  both  by 
experience  and  by  study,  and  enriched  by  his  own 
wealth  of  ideas — to  this  circumstance  alone  may  be 
ascribed  the  fury  with  which  Rossetti  and  his  com- 


24       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

rades  were  received.  The  secret  of  the  initials 
P.R.B.  (Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood),  which  each 
of  them  added  to  his  signature  on  the  pictures,  had 
very  soon  become  known,  and  may  certainly  have 
helped  to  fan  the  wrath  of  the  righteous.  On  the 
one  hand  a  gibe  was  suspected  against  the  deity 
Raphael,  and  such  presumption  deserved  condign 
punishment  ;  on  the  other  hand,  it  was  in  itself 
an  audacity  to  affix  a  trail  of  initials  to  one's  name. 
This  had  been  till  then  a  privilege  only  reserved  to 
the  proud  members  of  the  Academy! 

Yet  it  must  be  insisted  on  by  us  that  Rossetti  and 
his  comrades,  however  they  might  innocently  offend, 
did  not  in  any  manner  call  forth  opposition.  As 
regards  their  outward  demeanour  and  dealings  the 
Pre-Raphaelites  did  not  show  the  slightest  arrogance 
or  the  wish  to  attract  attention.  Their  AncUla 
Domini^  Childhood  of  Christy  RienzPs  Oath^  Lorenzo 
and  Isabella  are  individually  too  harmless  to  account 
for  this  savage  onslaught  on  the  whole  group,  unless 
we  explain  it  by  supposing  it  due  to  that  rage  and 
rancour,  which  is  apt  to  seize  the  majority  of 
humanity  as  soon  as  a  genius  gives  them  convincing 
proofs  of  their  own  intellectual  inferiority. 

It  is  perhaps  rather  unnecessary  to  put  the  question 
as  to  whether  the  Pre-Raphaelites  would  really  even- 
tually have  conquered,  if  they  had  carried  on  their 
crusade  against  narrow-mindedness  to  the  bitter  end. 
They  received  the  support  of  Ruskin,  who  was 
indeed  incapable  of  grasping  their  artistic  potentiali- 
ties, yet  certainly  recognised  the  literary  significance 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       25 

of  a  man  like  Rossetti,  the  moral  importance  of  a 
Ford  Madox  Brown  or  Holman  Hunt — and  on  these 
grounds  was  only  too  ready  to  break  a  lance  for  the 
whole  group.  He  theorised  the  movement,  he 
explained  its  basis  and  its  aesthetic  principles  of 
faith — in  a  logical  sequence  of  which,  be  it  observed 
in  parenthesis,  no  single  member  of  the  group  had 
any  idea,  much  less  had  shown  adherence  to.  In 
spite  of  the  fact  that  thereby  a  new  stimulus  was 
given  to  the  continuance  of  the  struggle,  all,  with 
perhaps  the  sole  exception  of  Holman  Hunt,  retired 
from  the  lists ;  and  left  their  champion  critic  to 
defend  a  theory,  the  practice  of  which  they  them- 
selves gave  up.  What  each  of  them  eventually 
became  (Madox  Brown,  Millais,  Woolner,  and 
Rossetti),  he  became  because  he  went  on  developing 
himself  on  his  lonely  path,  without  remaining  true 
to  Pre-Raphaelitism,  the  enthusiasm  of  his  youth. 

But  the  feeling  which  had  led  to  the  foundation 
of  the  Brotherhood  was  not  laid  aside  by  Rossetti 
with  its  dissolution.  Even  if  no  longer  firmly 
united  to  him,  he  yet  again  attracted  people  who 
approached  the  intellectual  heritage  of  the  first  Pre- 
Raphaelites  although  they  cultivated  it  in  a  newer 
direction,  more  full  of  promise  for  the  future. 

The  goal,  which  connected  one  part  of  the  old 
group  by  attracting  further  talent,  was  the  attain- 
ment of  a  united  decorative  art  according  to  a  definite 
style,  and  the  application  of  what  nowadays  we  call 
workshops  of  "  Arts  and  Crafts." 

Rossetti  had  received,  one  after  another,  orders  for 


26        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

an  altar-piece,  then  for  stained  glass-windows  and  a 
chancel  fresco,  all  of  these  works  of  applied  art. 
Afire  with  enthusiasm  for  this,  as  indeed  for  every- 
thing in  which  he  took  an  interest,  he  at  once  got 
new  talent  together  for  this  industry.  The  artists 
had  a  glorious  task  before  them,  in  which  again 
Ruskin's  inspiration  was  to  help  then,  when  "on  the 
occasion  of  the  erection  of  a  new  debating  and 
reading  room  at  the  University  of  Oxford,  it  was 
decided  that  the  upper  rounded  spaces  between  the 
windows  should  be  painted  with  pictures  from  the 
Arthurian  legend.  Rossetti  undertook  to  do  two, 
William  Morris,  Edward  Burne-Jones,  Val  Prinsep, 
Spencer  Stanhope,  J.  H.  Pollen,  and  A.  Hughes 
each  one  of  the  spaces,  three  for  the  present 
remaining  blank.  Rossetti  was  not  able  to  execute 
his  own  beautiful  design,  having  to  break  ofF  his 
work  on  account  of  a  bad  attack  of  illness  of  Miss 
Siddal.  All  the  paintings  very  soon  perished,  as  the 
brick-wall  had  only  been  whitewashed,  and  they  had 
painted  on  it  directly  with  tempera,  without  any 
experience  in  the  management  of  this  medium. 

At  this  present  day  only  the  splendid  roof  fresco 
which  William  Morris  executed  is  said  to  be  pre- 
served out  of  the  whole  decoration  of  the  room. 
The  well-known  art  movement  connected  with  his 
name  originated,  in  fact,  in  these  beginnings.  The 
firm  of  Morris  &  Co.  became  known  later  all  over 
the  world,  and  the  work  of  Morris  himself  in  most 
varied  fields  of  activity  became  so  important  and  so 
typical  that  one  might  easily  forget  that  the  work 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        27 

of  his  life  is  only  the  evolution  of  a  thought  which 
others  had  first  conceived.  For  it  was  in  all  proba- 
bility Madox  Brown,  and  Rossetti  in  particular 
(who  in  addition  to  his  other  qualities  had  a  special 
talent  for  financial  questions),  who  made  the  pro- 
posal, an  unheard  of  one  at  that  time,  that  artists 
should  combine  for  a  commercial  undertaking.  In 
1 86 1  the  firm  of  Morris  k  Co.,  afterwards  of  world- 
wide fame,  was  founded.  In  our  own  days,  when 
we  have  seen,  not  so  long  ago,  the  rise  of  arts  and 
crafts  workshops  of  the  most  varied  kind,  it  is  of 
particular  interest  to  look  at  the  prospectus  of  those 
days.     Here  it  is  : 

MORRIS,  MARSHALL,  FAULKNER  &  Co. 
Fine  Art  Workmen 

IN  PAINTING,  CARVING,  FURNITURE,  AND  THE  METALS 
8  Red  Lion  Square,  Holborn,  W.C 

Members  of  the  Firm 

F.  Madox  Brown  P.  Paul  Marshall. 

C.  J.  Faulkner  W.  Morris 

Arthur  Hughes  D,  G.  Rossetti 

E,  BuRNE-JoNEs  Philip  Webb 

"  The  growth  of  Decorative  Art  in  this  country, 
owing  to  the  efforts  of  English  architects,  has  now 
reached  a  point  at  which  it  seems  desirable  that 
artists  of  reputation  should  devote  their  time  to  it. 
Although  no  doubt  particular  instances  of  success 


28        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

may  be  cited,  still  it  must  be  generally  felt  that 
attempts  of  this  kind  hitherto  have  been  crude  and 
fragmentary.  Up  to  this  time,  the  want  of  that 
artistic  supervision  which  can  alone  bring  about 
harmony  between  the  different  parts  of  a  successful 
work  has  been  increased  by  the  necessarily  excessive 
outlay  consequent  on  taking  one  individual  artist 
from  his  pictorial  labours. 

The  artists  whose  names  appear  above  hope  by 
association  to  do  away  with  this  difficulty.  Having 
among  their  number  men  of  varied  qualifications, 
they  will  be  able  to  undertake  any  species  of  decora- 
tion, mural  or  otherwise,  from  pictures,  properly  so 
called,  down  to  the  consideration  of  the  smallest  work 
susceptible  of  art  beauty.  It  is  anticipated  that  by 
such  co-operation  the  largest  amount  of  what  is 
essentially  the  artist's  work,  along  with  his  constant 
supervision,  will  be  secured  at  the  smallest  possible 
expense,  while  the  work  done  must  necessarily  be  of 
a  much  more  complete  order  than  if  any  artist  were 
incidentally  employed  in  the  usual  manner. 

These  artists,  having  for  many  years  been  deeply 
attached  to  the  study  of  the  Decorative  Arts  of  all 
times  and  countries,  have  felt  more  than  most  people 
the  want  of  some  one  place  where  they  could  either 
obtain  or  get  produced  work  of  a  genuine  and 
beautiful  character.  They  have  therefore  now  estab- 
lished themselves  as  a  firm,  for  the  production,  by 
themselves  and  under  their  supervision,  of : 

"  I.  Mural  Decoration,  either  in  Pictures  or  in 
Pattern   work,   or  merely   in  the  arrangement  of 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        29 

colours,  as  applied  to  dwelling-houses,  churches,  or 
public  buildings. 

"II.  Carving  generally,  as  applied  to  Architecture. 

"  III.  Stained  Glass,  especially  with  reference  to 
its  harmony  with  Mural  Decoration. 

"  IV.  Metal  Work  in  all  its  branches,  including 
Jewellery. 

"V.  Furniture,  either  depending  for  its  beauty  on 
its  own  design,  on  the  application  of  materials 
hitherto  overlooked,  or  on  its  conjunction  with 
Figure  and  Pattern  Painting.  Under  this  head  is 
included  Embroidery  of  all  kinds,  Stamped  Leather, 
and  ornamental  work  in  other  such  materials 
besides  every  article  necessary  for  domestic  use. 

"  It  only  remains  to  them  to  assure  the  public 
that  work  of  all  the  above  classes  will  be  estimated 
for,  and  executed  in  a  business-like  manner  ;  and  it 
is  believed  that  good  decoration,  involving  rather  the 
luxury  of  taste  than  the  luxury  of  costliness,  will  be 
found  to  be  much  less  expensive  than  is  generally 
supposed." 

How  remarkably  quickly  innovations  which  at 
their  time  caused  a  great  sensation  pass  away  out 
of  remembrance.  Do  not  these  words  sound  almost 
identical  with  the  advertisements  of  our  modern 
artistic  workshops  ?  Even  the  fallacious  and  decep- 
tive suggestion  that  the  artistic  work  "  will  not 
prove  costly  "  we  find  there  as  in  circulars  of  the 
present  day.  Yet  the  men  who  draw  up  our 
modern  circulars  have  doubtless  known  nothing 
about  that  of  186 1,  even  by  hearsay  ;  and  are  abso- 


30        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

lutely  convinced  that  they  are  announcing  per- 
fectly new  truths,  and  following  new  aims. 

Rossetti  did  work  of  various  kinds  for  these  artis- 
tic workshops,  though  perhaps  nothing  of  startling 
importance.  As  already  stated,  Morris  was  the 
man  who  fully  developed  and  brought  to  perfection 
the  germ  which  lay  hid  in  the  whole  project. 
Rossetti,  however,  soon  drifted  apart  upon  that  path 
on  which  he  was  eventually  to  accomplish  his  life's 
work,  and  on  which  we  will  now  follow  him.  In 
the  second  number  of  the  "  Germ  "  there  appeared 
his  poem  entitled  The  Blessed  Damozel.  .  .  .  When 
we  consider  the  close  connection  between  Rossetti 
and  Dante  we  are  doubly  reminded  of  the  latter's 
utterance  : 

"£  pero  sappia  ciascuno^  che  nulla  cosa  per  legame 
rnusaico  armonizzata  si  puo  della  sua  loquela  in  altra 
trasmutare  senza  rompere  tutta  sua  dolcezza  e 
armonia^'' 

THE    BLESSED  DJMOZEL 

The  blessed  damozel  leaned  out 

From  the  gold  bar  of  Heaven  ; 
Her  eyes  were  deeper  than  the  depth 

Of  waters  stilled  at  ezen  ; 
She  had  three  lilies  i;i  her  hand, 

And  the  stars  in  her  hair  zvere  seven. 

Her  robe,  ungirt  from  clasp  to  hem. 

No  zvrought  fozvers  did  adorn, 
But  a  zvhite  rose  of  Mary  s  gift. 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        31 

For  service  meetly  worn  ; 
Her  hair  that  lay  along  her  back 
'    Was  yellow  like  ripe  corn. 

Her  seemed  she  scarce  had  been  a  day 

One  of  God's  choristers  ; 
The  zvofider  icas  not  yet  quite  gone 

From  that  still  look  of  hers ; 
Albeit,  to  them  she  left,  her  day 

Had  counted  as  ten  years. 

{To  one,  it  is  ten  years  of  years. 

.  .  .   l^'et  now,  and  in  this  place. 
Surely  she  leaned  o'er  me — her  hair 

Fell  all  about  my  face.   .  .  . 
Nothing;  the  autumn-fall  of  leaves. 

The  whole  year  sets  apace ^ 

It  was  the  rampart  of  God's  house 

That  she  zvas  standing  on  ; 
By  God  built  over  the  sheer  depth 

The  which  is  space  begun  ; 
So  high,  that  looking  downward  thence 

She  scarce  could  see  the  sun. 

From  the  fixed  place  of  Heaven  she  sazv 

Time  like  a  pulse  shake  fierce 
Through  all  the  worlds.    Her  gaze  still  strove 

Within  the  gulf  to  pierce 
Its  path  ;  and  now  she  spoke,  as  zvhen 

The  stars  sang  in  their  spheres. 

The  sun  was  gone  now  ;  the  curled  moon 

Was  like  a  littie  feather 
Fluttering  far  dozen  the  gnlf;  and  nozv 


32       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

She  spoke  through  the  still  zveather. 
Her  voice  zvas  like  the  voice  the  stars 
Had  when  ihey  satig  together. 

{Ah  sweet !     Even  noii\  in  that  biro's  song. 

Strove  not  her  accents  there, 
Fain  to  he  hearkened  ?     When  those  bells 

Possessed  the  mid-day  air, 
Strove  not  her  steps  to  reach  my  side 

Down  all  the  echoing  stair  ?) 

"/  wish  that  he  zoere  come  to  me. 

For  he  will  come,'  she  said. 
**  Have  I  not  prayed  in  Heaven  ? — on  earth, 

Lord,  Lord,  has  he  not  prayed? 
Are  not  tzvo  prayers  a  perfect  strength  ? 

And  shall  I  feel  afraid? 

'■'■When  round  his  head  the  aureole  clings. 

And  he  is  clothed  in  ivhite, 
V II  take  his  hand  and  go  zvith  him 

To  the  deep  tee  I  Is  of  light  ; 
As  unto  a  stream  zve  zvill  step  down. 

And  bathe  there  in  God's  sight. 

*'  We  tzvQ  zvill  stand  beside  that  shrine. 

Occult,  zvithheld,  untrod, 
Whose  lamps  are  stirred  continually 

M^ith  prayer  sent  up  to  God  ; 
And  see  our  old  prayers,  granted,  melt 

Each  like  a  little  cloud. 

"  We  tzvo  zvill  lie  in  the  shadozv  of 

That  living  mystic  tree 
Within  zvhose  secret  growth  the  Dove 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        33 

Is  sometimes  felt  to  be. 
Mobile  every  leaf  that  His  plumes  touch 
Saith  His  Name  audibly. 

"  Atid  I  myself  will  teach  to  him, 

I  myself  lying  so. 
The  songs  I  sing  here  ;  tvhich  his  voice 

Shall  pause  in,  hushed  and  slozv, 
J?idfnd  some  knozvledge  at  each  pause. 

Or  some  new  thing  to  know." 

{Alas !    We  two,  we  two,  thou  safst! 

Yea,  one  wast  thou  zvith  me 
That  once  of  old.     But  shall  God  lift 

To  endless  unity 
The  soul  whose  likeness  with  thy  soul 

Was  but  its  love  for  thee  ?) 

"  We  two,"  she  said,  "  zvill  seek  the  groves 

Where  the  lady  Mary  is. 
With  her  five  handmaidens,  whose  name 

Are  five  sweet  symphonies, 
Cecily,  Gertrude,  Magdalen, 

Margaret  and  Rosalys. 

"  Circlewise  sit  they,  with  bound  locks 

And  foreheads  garlanded  ; 
Into  the  fine  cloth  white  like  fiame 

Weaving  the  golden  thread. 
To  fashion  the  birth-robes  for  them 

Who  are  just  born,  being  dead. 

*'  He  shall  fear,  haply,  and  he  dumb  : 

Then  will  I  lay  my  cheek 
To  his,  and  tell  about  our  love, 


34        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


A' 5/  once  abashed  or  weak  : 
And  the  dear  Mother  approve 
My  pride f  and  let  me  speak. 

"  Herself  shall  bring  us,  hand  in  hand^ 

To  Him  round  zvhom  all  souls 
Kneel,  the  clear-ranged  unnumbered  heads 

Bowed  zuith  their  aureoles  : 
And  angels  meeting  us  shall  sing 

To  their  citherns  and  citoles. 

"  There  will  I  ask  of  Christ  the  Lord 

Thus  much  for  him  and  me  : — 
Only  to  live  as  once  on  earth 

pFith  Love, — only  to  be. 
As  then  awhile,  for  ever  now 

Together,  I  and  he. ''^ 

She  gazed  and  listened  and  then  said. 

Less  sad  of  speech  than  mild, — 
"  All  this  is  lohen  he  comes."     She  ceased. 

The  light  thrilled  towards  her,flPd 
With  angels  in  strong  level  fight. 

Her  eyes  prayed,  and  she  smiPd. 

(/  saw  her  smile.)     But  soon  their  path 

Was  vague  in  distant  spheres  : 
And  then  she  cast  her  arms  along 

The  golden  barriers. 
And  laid  her  face  between  her  hands. 

And  wept.     (/  heard  her  tears.) 

To  waste  words  on  the  beauty  of  this  poem 
would  be  superfluous.  I  should,  however,  like  to 
emphasise    this — that   it    is    the    most    wonderful 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        35 

piece  of  work,  in  all  the  history  of  the  world,  which 
has  ever  been  produced  by  a  youth  of  less  than 
nineteen  summers.  At  this  age  many  have  already 
sung  of  love,  vehemently  and  boldly,  proudly  and 
heroically,  fantastically  and  with  exaggeration. 
Who,  however,  at  eighteen  years  of  age  has  treated 
the  subject  with  the  experience  of  a  man  who  has 
been  through  the  fire,  who  has  raised  himself  and 
his  passion,  almost  before  temptation  existed  for 
him,  let  alone  that  he  had  succumbed,  to  a  really 
divine  height;  in  which  height  neither  cramped  nor 
suppressed,  it  is  able  to  flourish  from  the  beginning, 
and  this  without  staining  his  soul  with  one  single 
drop  of  gall  and  wormwood.  Other  youths  loudly 
proclaim  the  beauty  of  their  mistress,  let  the  lofty 
song  of  love  rise  into  the  abstract,  become  diffuse 
over  their  longing  and  wished  for  happiness, — and 
place  their  own  Ego  as  central  point  of  their  present 
and  past  experiences.  One  has  the  feeling  as  if 
each  had  silently  hoped  that  his  work  might  come 
before  the  eyes  of  the  beloved  one,  and  thus  win 
her  for  him.  Rossetti  sings  of  love,  not  of  the 
loved  one  ;  the  bearer  of  his  thought  is  not  himself, 
is  not  a  man  but  a  maid — and  that  a  dead  maid. 
In  the  blessedness  of  heaven  she  lives  in  unconscious 
half-slumber,  from  which  she  only  awakens  when, 
bending  over  the  golden  gateway,  she  looks  down 
upon  him  for  whom  she  has  already  waited  ten  long 
years.  His  coming,  their  happiness  together  will  be 
the  touch  of  magic,  which  shall  make  a  reality  of 
all  the  splendour  around  her,  since  without  his  love, 


36        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

(for  which  she  waits  with  gentle,  tearful  smiles), 
there  can  be  no  Heaven  for  her.  The  traces  of  a 
reserved  smouldering  fire  show  through  these  lines 
more  distinctly  than  in  many  a  celebrated  poem,  in 
which  wild  passion  takes  form  in  the  warmest 
imagery,  the  most  enticing  words. 

Dante  Rossetti  was  surely  by  nature  one  of  the 
most  sensuously  emotional  characters  which  has 
ever  existed.  The  love  of  women,  the  beauty  of 
women,  the  beauty  of  the  human  body,  were  to 
him  the  goal  of  his  wishes,  the  highest  form  of  that 
happiness  for  which  his  soul  thirsted.  How  was  it 
that  he  did  not  become  a  sensualist  ?  How  was  it 
that  in  his  art  the  man  is  not  mirrored  in  whom 
enjoyment,  carried  to  excess  of  satiety,  results  in 
loathsome  cynicism  ?  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact  that 
Rossetti,  of  whom  we  have  already  learnt  that  life  and 
art  to  him  were  one,  of  whom  we  have  countless 
proofs  that  he  was  passionately  fond  of  the  joyous- 
ness  of  life,  that  this  Rossetti  has  only  drawn  one 
single  female  nude  figure  and  two  paintings  of  moral 
subjects, — both  in  the  spirit  of  a  stern  judge.  And 
yet  his  art  knows  only  one  object,  the  portrayal  or 
the  sensuous  splendour  of  woman's  form,  in  which 
he  delights  with  a  fervour  scarcely  less  than  that  of 
Rubens.  To  two,  perhaps  to  three  women  we  owe 
the  splendid  service  of  having  preserved  the  purity 
of  his  art — Rossetti's  mother  with  all  that  she  in- 
culcated in  his  soul,  perhaps,  too,  his  sister  Chris- 
tina. Later  certainly  Elizabeth  Eleanor  Siddal, 
who  became  his  wife.     She  was  perhaps  one  of  the 


Photo.  F.  Hollyer 


ELIZABETH    ELEANOR   SIDDAL 
{Pen  ana  ink  t/razvine;) 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        37 

most  remarkable  women  that  ever  existed.  No 
less  a  personage  than  the  poet  Swinburne,  who 
became  later  so  famous,  both  in  public  writings 
and  in  private  letters,  has  given  his  testimony  to 
this.  "  It  is  impossible  that  even  the  reptile 
rancour,  the  omnivorous  malignity  of  lago  himself, 
could  have  dreamed  of  trying  to  cast  a  slur  on  the 
memory  of  that  incomparable  lady."  He  then 
says  :  "  To  one  at  least  who  knew  her  better  than 
most  of  her  husband's  friends  the  memory  of  all  her 
marvellous  charms  of  mind  and  person — her  match- 
less grace,  loveliness,  courage,  endurance,  wit, 
humour,  heroism  and  sweetness  is  too  dear  and 
sacred  to  be  profaned  by  any  attempt  at  expression  " 
[Academy^  December  24,  1892).  He  lays  special 
stress  on  her  fecundity  of  invention  and  recognition 
in  matters  pertaining  to  poetry,  and  closes  his 
words  with  the  declaration  :  "  She  was  a  woman  as 
wonderful  as  she  was  amiable." 

Walter  Deverell,  one  of  the  later  enrolled  mem- 
bers of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood,  had 
discovered  her  in  the  year  1849,  when  he  accom- 
panied his  mother  shopping  ;  she  was  in  a  milliner's 
business.  With  his  mother's  help  he  induced  her 
to  sit  to  him  for  his  Viola  ;  later  on  she  sat  for 
Millais  for  his  Ophelia  (1852),  and  for  Holman 
Hunt  as  the  chief  figure  in  two  pictures,  Christian 
Priests  escaping  from  the  Druids^  and  Valentine 
Rescuing  Sylvia  from  Proteus  (185 1).  When 
Rossetti  saw  her  she  became  his  property  :  he  drew 
and  painted  her  innumerable  times.    Till  her  death. 


38        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

and  even  afterwards,  she  was  the  model  for  the 
chief  figure  in  his  pictures.  This  description  of 
her  outward  appearance  comes  from  his  brother  : 
"  Tall,  finely  formed,  with  a  lofty  neck,  and 
regular  yet  somewhat  uncommon  features,  greenish- 
blue  unsparkling  eyes,  large  perfect  eyelids,  brilliant 
complexion,  and  a  lavish  heavy  wealth  of  coppery- 
golden  hair." 

Her  neck  in  particular,  "  regal  like  David's 
tower,"  delighted  Dante  Gabriel.  To  complete 
the  picture  we  must  include  the  brilliant  com- 
plexion, which  at  first  might  appear  very  seductive, 
but  could  not  but  cause  anxiety  as  soon  as  it  became 
recognised  that  it  was  hectic. 

In  the  year  1850  she  entered  into  this  "new 
life  "  as  a  girl  of  seventeen.  If  Deverell  had  spent 
that  morning  at  home  the  potentialities  of  this  soul 
would  doubtless  for  ever  have  lain  sleeping  in  the 
darkness  of  night.  The  wonderful  chance  of  fate 
intervened — and  twelve  years  of  love  spent  by  the 
side  of  Rossetti  made  of  her  a  being  who  created 
pictures  and  sketched  situations,  which  found  their 
market  even  in  far-distant  America — from  whom 
Rossetti  himself  gained  much — and  who  could  fill 
a  Ruskin  (who  admired  Rossetti  as  perhaps  none 
other  did)  with  such  unqualified  enthusiasm  that  she 
the  model  was  more  to  him  than  the  artist's  creation 
which  she  inspired.  Nor  did  that  alone  suffice  ; 
but  these  years  formed  her  into  a  being  who  could 
write  poems,  among  which  are  to  be  found  pearls 
such  as  the  following  : 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        39 

JT  LAST 

I   O  mother,  open  the  mndoto  wide 
And  let  the  daylight  in  : 
The  hills  grow  darker  to  my  sight, 
And  thoughts  begin  to  swim. 

And,  mother  dear,  take  my  young  son 

(Since  I  was  horn  of  thee), 
And  care  for  all  his  little  ways. 

And  nurse  him  on  thy  knee. 

And,  mother,  wash  my  pale,  pale  hands, 

And  then  bind  up  my  feet  : 
My  body  may  no  longer  rest 

Out  of  its  zdnding  sheet. 

And,  mother  dear,  take  a  sapling  twig 

And  green  grass  newly  moion. 
And  lay  them  on  my  empty  bed  '/ 

That  my  sorrozo  be  not  known. 

And,  mother,  find  three  berries  red 

And  pluck  them  from  the  stalk. 
And  burn  them  at  the  first  cockcrow y 

That  my  spirit  may  not  zvalk. 

And,  mother  dear,  break  a  zvillow  wand, 

And  if  the  sap  be  even, 
Then  save  it  for  my  lover'' s  sake 

And  he'll  knozv  my  soul's  in  heaven. 

And,  mother,  zohen  the  big  tears  fall 

(And  fall,  God  knows,  they  may), 
Tell  him  I  died  of  my  great  love. 

And  my  dying  heart  was  gay. 


40        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


Jnd,  mother  dear,  zvhen  the  sun  has  set. 

And  the  pale  church  grass  zvaves. 
Then  carry  me  through  the  dim  twilight 

And  hide  me  among  the  graves. 

What  a  wonderful  moment  for  our  race  was  that 
when  the  intellectual  side  of  life  was  so  far  in 
advance  of  the  physical.  Rossetti,  still  on  the 
threshold  of  the  sanctuary  whose  zealous  priest  he 
was  to  become,  can  write  a  laudatory  hymn  in 
honour  of  the  purest  of  love  in  a  poem  so  unique 
as  "  The  Blessed  Damozel."  Elizabeth  Eleanor 
Siddal,  when,  in  spite  of  all  kinds  of  illness  and 
adverse  circumstances,  the  goal  of  her  marriage,  so 
heartily  longed  for,  was  at  hand,  utters  her  feelings 
in  such  an  epithalamium  as  this  "At  Last,"  It 
begins  with  the  long-drawn  sigh  of  the  hunted  who, 
after  dangers  barely  escaped,  feels  herself  safely  pro- 
tected and  in  peace.  This  is  hardly  expressed  when 
it  suddenly  changes  into  a  sorrowful  dirge,  into  the 
wish  now  to  be  allowed  to  die,  afar  off,  so  that  her 
death  may  fall  more  lightly  upon  her  beloved.  The 
period  which  caused  even  great  characters  only  to 
think  of  themselves  led  her  to  write  in  this  vein. 

It  was  Rossetti's  love  which  had  so  transformed 
the  cutler's  daughter  from  Sheffield,  the  erstwhile 
seamstress,  into  such  an  artist,  such  a  poetess,  and 
such  a  fine  character.  And  to  her  also  he  owed 
quite  as  much.  He  drew  and  painted  whole 
drawersful  of  "  Guggums" — his  pet  name  for  her. 
She  was  the  centre  point  of  his  life  and  his  art. 
When  she  died,  after  two  years  of  married  life,  he 


Tate  Gallery,  London 


Photo.  Mansell  &■  Co. 


BEATA   BEATRIX 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       41 

was  as  one  paralysed.  The  best  which  he  had  to 
give,  the  manuscript  of  his  splendid,  unpublished 
poems,  he  buried  in  the  wealth  of  her  golden  hair 
as  she  lay  in  her  coffin.  For  a  long  time  he  could 
create  nothing  ;  only  after  he  had  given  to  the 
memory  of  his  wife  the  wonderful  monument  of 
one  of  the  most  beautiful  pictures,  Beata  Beatrix — 
which  clearly  portrays  her  transfigured  features — 
then  and  then  alone  did  peace  gradually  come 
over  him. 

Through  her  he  had  become  the  modern  "  master 
of  the  half-figures,"  the  master  who  in  this  form 
repeatedly  sounds  the  paean  of  beauty  and  love.  It 
was  doubtless  her  incurable,  severe  sufferings  which 
caused  him  not  to  misuse  her  beauty  for  trivial  or 
even  lower  aims.  Ruskin  wrote  him  once  with  a 
kind  of  divine  inspiration  : 

"  I  think  Ida "  (his  favourite  name  for  Miss 
Siddal)  "  should  be  very  happy  to  see  how  much 
more  beautifully,  perfectly,  and  tenderly  you  draw 
when  you  are  drawing  her  than  when  you  draw 
anybody  else.  She  cures  you  of  all  your  worst 
faults  when  you  only  look  at  her." 

Even  externally  she  realised  his  ideal ;  and  with 
her  features  he  was  able  to  personify  physical 
beauty,  and  yield  to  his  old  impulse  of  fighting 
against  the  existing  state  of  art.  For  the  highest 
ideal  of  female  beauty  of  the  art  of  his  day  was  a 
coy,  demure,  simpering  prettiness  of  feature.  The 
disciples  of  this  idea  prudishly  threw  up  their 
hands  in  holy  horror  at  the  sight  of  the  full  rich 


42        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


lips,  the  rounded  features,  the  marked  capacity 
for  enjoying  life  possessed  by  Rossetti's  types  ! 
Although  all  his  female  figures  bore  the  signs  of 
great  intellectual  qualities,  they  were  none  the 
less  endowed  with  sensuous  charm.  Adorned  by 
wonderful  jewellery  and  rich  clothing,  this  joyous 
full  life  was  convincingly  expressed  by  a  dazzling, 
rich  scheme  of  colour. 

Rosetti  recovered  himself  after  the  death  of  his 
wife  and  did  a  great  deal  of  good  work  ;  indeed  the 
most  of  his  life-work,  I  know  very  well  that  it  is  not 
even  the  features  of  his  wife  which  look  forth  on  us 
from  the  greater  number  of  his  best-known  works  ; 
that  Fanny  Wilding,  Miss  Corn  forth,  Marie  Spartali, 
above  all  Mrs.  William  Morris  are  repeated  quite  as 
often  as  Miss  Siddal  ;  even  that  some  of  these  women 
later  on  played  a  not  unimportant  part  in  his  life  as 
well  as  in  his  art.  In  spite  of  this,  however,  I  main- 
tain that  what  Rossetti  became,  he  became  through 
the  stimulation  and  support  which  his  wife  gave  him. 
It  was  she  who  led  him  to  the  point  where  it  became 
clearly  manifest  to  him  in  what  manner  his  genius 
should  express  itself.  His  later  pictures,  however 
good  they  may  be  in  themselves,  only  repeat  what 
had  come  to  him  during  the  time  that  Miss  Siddal 
was  at  his  side,  although  among  the  faces  of  his 
figures  her  features  do  not  occur. 

I  can  now,  after  I  have  endeavoured  to  show  In 
what  Rossetti's  genius  consisted,  and  how  the 
evolution  of  this  genius  was  furthered,  express  my- 
self more  briefly  in  tracing  the  course  of  its  develop- 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       43 

ment.  We  saw  how  as  a  youth  he  passed  through 
a  period  of  storm  and  stress,  and  saw,  too,  how  this 
tendency  to  opposition  at  first  led  to  a  touch  of 
Naturalism.  His  great  literary  culture,  the  con- 
ditions of  his  daily  life,  above  all  his  wonderful 
poetic  qualifications,  prevented  this  Naturalism  as- 
suming too  pronounced  a  form.  These  conditions 
had  rather  the  tendency  to  force  him  into  a  kind  of 
Romanticism.  Then  love  in  its  purest  form  entered 
his  life  and  gave  the  artist  that  was  in  him  his 
definite  form  ;  and  this  form  remained  unchanged 
even  after  his  love  had  been  taken  from  him. 

After  the  death  of  his  wife  Rossetti  first  tried  to 
distract  his  thoughts  by  fitting  up  a  new  home. 
With  Whistler  he  was  one  of  the  first  who  showed 
appreciation  for  the  beautiful  ohjeis  (Tart  of  bygone 
epochs,  as  well  as  for  the  wonderful  productions  of 
the  Japanese  ;  and,  like  Whistler,  he  also  possessed 
a  refined  taste.  As  time  went  on  he  was  able  to 
work  again.  For  some  years  he  still  gathered  friends 
about  him,  chief  among  whom  were  the  poets 
Swinburne,  P.  B.  Marston,  and  Meredith,  the  artists 
W.  B.  Scott  and  Halliday,  and  in  addition  patrons 
at  whose  head  were  Rae,  Flint  and  Leathart.  His 
works  now  passed  directly  into  the  possession  of  these 
latter.  Owing  to  his  sensitiveness  to  criticism  he  had 
^ng  resolved  not  to  exhibit.  When  on  the  death 
OT  one  of  his  patrons  his  works  only  fetched  very 
moderate  prices,  at  an  auction  of  the  latter's  effects, 
he  endeavoured  to  find  a  possibility  of  preserving 
his  pictures  from  the  fluctuations  of  such  a  market. 


44       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

He  afterwards  employed  an  agent  to  sell  a  part  of 
his  works.  Poetic  work,  in  particular  his  translations 
from  the  early  Italian  poets,  occupied  him  greatly 
during  the  first  years  after  the  loss  of  his  wife.  And 
at  last  some  years  of  important  artistic  creative  work 
came  to  him.  Then  commenced  his  illness  which, 
though  in  another  form  than  that  of  his  wife,  but 
equally  slow  and  terrible,  gnawed  at  his  physical 
strength.  In  his  case,  in  addition  to  this,  his  intel- 
lectual strength  was  destroyed.  The  chief  cause 
was  his  suffering  from  increasing  chronic  sleepless- 
ness. At  that  time  the  deadly  effects  of  chloral  did 
not  appear  to  have  been  known.  He  used  this 
extensively,  and  only  recognised  his  danger  after  it 
was  too  late.  Periods  of  short  relief  alternated  with 
those  of  the  deepest  depression,  and  he  gradually 
approached  his  end. 

This  was  the  period  in  which  he  lost  many  of  his 
friends,  only  very  few  of  whom  could  manage  to  get 
on  with  him  to  the  very  last.  As  is  always  the  case 
in  these  circumstances,  the  bad  qualities  in  his 
character  got  the  upper  hand  in  proportion  as  the 
remedy  undermined  his  strength  of  will.  There 
were  whole  years  in  which  most  people  spoke  of 
him  only  as  of  a  selfish  epicurean.  It  is  quite  clear 
that  the  possibilities  of  this  character  lay  in  him  ; 
for  here  again  he  showed  the  influence  of  the  artistic 
temperament.  Long  before  this  these  characteristics 
assumed  other  than  a  semi-tragi-comic  appearance, 
their  traces  in  him  were  observable.  When  he 
wanted    to    paint  one   of  his  best-known  pictures 


Hor7iiinan  CotUctio 


JOLI  COEUR 


Photo.  F.  Holly (r 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        45 

Found  he  was  staying  with  Ford  Madox  Brown, 
to  whose  comprehensive  notes  we  owe  much  that 
affords  us  an  accurate  insight  into  Rossetti's  character. 
He  was  then  continually  in  money  trouble  and 
borrowed  from  friend  or  foe  alike,  unconcerned  as  to 
whether  it  was  easy  for  them  to  give,  which,  to  tell 
truth,  was  never  the  case  in  his  circle.  In  conver- 
sation /;/;  affairs  and  his  interests  were  for  him  as  a 
matter  of  course  the  most  important,  if  not  the  only 
subject,  to  be  considered.  He  had  absolutely  no 
perception  for  what  might  wound  his  friend's  feelings, 
or  the  reverse. 

The  principal  reason  for  Rossetti's  being  at  that 
time  with  Madox  Brown  was  because  he  wanted 
to  paint  the  calf  and  other  details  in  the  picture 
Found^  which  we  have  just  mentioned.  On  Novem- 
ber 27,  1854,  Madox  Brown  writes  in  his  diary: 
"  Out  to  buy  pewter  spoons  in  honour  of  William 
Rossetti  coming  to  dinner  ;  one  being  broken  by 
Katey  and  two  melted  by  Ruth,  so  as  to  leave  but 
one  serviceable  one  of  four.  Saw  Gabriel's  calf; 
very  beautiful  but  takes  a  long  time.  Endless 
emendations,  no  perceptible  progress  from  day  to 
day,  and  all  the  time  he  wearing  my  great-coat, 
which  I  want,  and  a  pair  of  my  breeches,  besides 
food  and  an  unlimited  supply  of  turpentine  .  .  . 
Snow  came  on." 

On  December  16  following  he  writes  :  "This 
morning,  i6th,  Gabriel  not  yet  having  done  his 
calf,  and  talking  quite  freely  about  several  days  yet, 
having  been  here  since  November  i,  and  not  seem- 


46        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

ing  to  notice  any  hints  .  .  .  Emma"  (Mrs,  Madox 
Brown)  "  being  within  a  week  or  two  of  her  con- 
finement, and  he  having  had  his  bed  made  on  the 
floor  in  the  parlour  one  week  now,  and  not  getting 
up  till  eleven  .  .  .  besides  my  finances  being  re- 
duced tOj^2  I2S.  6d.,  which  must  last  till  January  20, 
I  told  him  delicately  he  must  go,  or  go  home  at 
night  by  the  'bus."  (The  Madox  Browns  lived 
at  Hampstead  in  North  London.)  "  This  last  he  said 
was  too  expensive.  I  told  him  he  might  ride  to  his 
work  in  the  morning  and  walk  home  at  night.  This, 
he  said,  he  should  never  think  of  .  .  .  So  he  is  gone 
for  the  present "...  and  obviously  with  the  air  of 
one  deeply  injured. 

Rossetti  owed,  indeed,  a  great  deal  to  Ruskin, 
who  did  a  great  deal  for  him,  partly  directly,  more 
indirectly  by  generously  enabling  Miss  Siddal  to 
try  the  effect  of  several  treatments.  Yet  even 
Ruskin  himself  had  to  experience  the  inconsiderate- 
ness  of  the  artist.     He  writes  once  : 

Denmark  Hill,  i860. 

"Dear  Rossetti, — Thank  you  for  your  kind 
letter.  I  .  .  .  quite  understand  your  ways  and 
way  of  talking  .  .  .  But  what  I  do  feel  generally 
about  you  is  that  without  intending  it  you  are  in 
little  things  habitually  selfish — thinking  only  of 
what  you  like  to  do,  or  don't  like  ;  not  of  what 
would  be  kind.  Where  your  afFections  are  strongly 
touched  I  suppose  this  would  not  be  so — but  it  is 
not  possible  you  should  care  much  for  me,  seeing  me 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       47 

so  seldom.  I  wish  you  and  Lizzie  liked  me  enough 
to — say — put  on  a  dressing-gown  and  run  in  for  a 
minute  rather  than  not  see  me  ;  or  paint  on  a  pic- 
ture in  an  unsightly  state,  rather  than  not  amuse  me 
when  I  was  ill.  But  you  can't  make  yourselves  to 
like  me,  and  you  would  only  like  me  less  if  you 
tried.  As  long  as  I  live  in  the  way  I  do  here,  you 
can't  of  course  know  me  rightly. 

"  I  am  relieved  this  morning  from  the  main 
trouble  I  was  in  yesterday  ;  and  am  ever  affection- 
ately yours, 

«J.    RUSKIN." 

"  Love  to  Lizzie." 

"I  am  afraid  this  note  reads  sulky — it  is  not  that: 
I  am  generally  depressed.  Perhaps  you  both  like 
me  better  than  I  suppose  you  do.  I  mean  only,  I 
did  not  misinterpret  or  take  ill  anything  yesterday  ; 
but  I  have  no  power  in  general  of  believing  much 
in  people's  caring  for  me.  I've  a  little  more  faith 
in  Lizzie  than  in  you — because  though  she  don't 
see  me,  her  bride's-kiss  was  so  full  and  so  queenly- 
kind  ;  but  I  fancy  I  ga/l  you  by  my  want  of  sym- 
pathy in  many  things,  and  so  lose  hold  of  you." 

Ruskin  had,  as  we  said,  indeed  a  claim  on  her 
devotion  ;  at  that  time,  however,  he  comforted  him- 
self with  the  thought  that  one  can  only  expect  from 
an  artist  in  return  for  each  friendly  act  that  which 
he  at  the  same  time  gives  to  mankind  in  general. 

Another  witness,  Stillmann  the  journalist,  writes: 
"  Rossctti's    was    one    of    the    most    fascinating 


48        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


characters  I  ever  knew,  open  and  expansive,  and, 
when  well,  he  had  a  vein  of  most  delightful  talk 
of  the  things  which  interested  him.  He  was  the 
spoiled  child  of  his  genius  and  of  the  large  world 
of  his  admirers  ;  there  was  no  vanity  about  him 
and  no  exaggeration  of  his  own  abilities,  but  other 
people,  even  artists  whom  he  appreciated,  were 
of  merely  relative  importance  to  him.  What- 
ever was  to  his  hand  was  made  for  his  use  ;  and 
when  we  went  into  the  hou^e  at  Robertsbridge  he 
at  once  took  the  place  of  master  of  the  house,  as 
if  he  had  invited  me,  rather  than  the  converse, 
going  through  the  rooms  to  select,  and  saying  :  *  I 
will  take  this,'  of  those  which  suited  him  best,  and 
*  You  may  have  that,'  of  those  he  had  no  fancy  for. 
No  one  rebelled  at  being  treated  in  his  princely 
way,  for  it  was  only  with  his  friends  that  he  used 
it.  He  dominated  all  who  had  the  least  sympathy 
with  him  or  his  geni\is." 

It  is  true  one  was  quite  ready,  half  jocularly,  to 
accept  this  from  a  young  man,  above  all  from  a  man 
who  visibly  bore  the  imprint  of  genius  ;  but  it  is 
easy  to  imagine  how  it  was  later  on  when,  with 
broken  nerves,  tormented  by  the  mania  of  persecu- 
tion and  other  delusions,  the  sick  man  capriciously 
demanded  what  formerly  he  had  accepted  as  a  favour. 
To  this  was  added  at  times  a  repellent  sensitiveness, 
a  callous  egotism,  and  a  gloomy  unsociability  in  place 
of  the  former  ingenuousness. 

We  must  here  dwell  but  shortly  on  the  probable 
influence  which  this  unhealthy  condition  of  mind 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       49 


and  body  exercised  on  Rossetti's  art.  That  it  did 
so  is  undeniable.  He  was  always  much  opposed  to 
any  criticism  ;  in  his  old  age,  however,  he  was 
possessed  by  a  positively  morbid  dread  of  it.  He 
was  always  lucky  in  disposing  favourably  of  his 
pictures.  Later  in  life  he  started  a  real  business  in 
them,  and  several  times  bought  his  pictures  back 
and  sold  them  afresh  at  a  good  profit.  He  made 
profitable  use  of  the  same  idea  by  painting  two  or 
more  replicas  of  all  pictures.  Let  us  pass  on  to  the 
artistic  decadence  which  his  later  work  shows. 
Several  of  his  works  he  took  in  hand  again  and 
painted  over  them,  by  which  means  they  were  totally 
spoilt.  A  particularly  marked  example  of  this  is 
to  be  found  in  the  wonderful  picture  Lil'ith^  in  which 
he  wanted  to  incorporate  the  most  complete  type  of 
sensuous  beauty.  Fortunately  we  possess  photo- 
graphs of  the  work  as  it  originally  appeared  before 
the  repainting  altered  and  spoiled  the  features,  ex- 
pression, and  even  the  whole  scheme  of  colouring. 

Gradually,  his  artistic  power  becoming  exhausted, 
his  style  grows  mechanical.  Originally  the  full 
voluptuous  lips  of  his  female  figures  were  the  reflec- 
tion of  an  actuality,  continually  received  and  mirrored 
from  the  surface  of  his  temperament. 

Now,  however,  he  lacks  the  living  interest  in  the 
women,  through  the  contemplation  of  whom  his 
work  is  to  receive  life.  He  turns  their  features  to 
profit  by  his  art  ;  for  him  they  descend  to  the 
level  of  mere  models.  Then  he  seems  to  only 
remember  their  outlines,  emphasises  and  exaggerates 

D 


50        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

these  by  sheer  force  of  habit,  and  creates   empty 

phantoms.  Formerly  his  figures  breathed  forth  the 
boundless  joyousness  of  life,  now  he  no  longer  creates 
but  consciously  repeats  those  outward  signs  which 
formerly  were  taken  as  a  token  of  the  vital  power 
within  him.  Separate  features  of  the  face  he  works 
at  on  a  conventional  pattern,  whether  they  suit  the 
rest  of  the  model's  individuality  or  not ;  and  so  at 
last  the  same  mouth,  the  same  eyes,  are  continually 
repeated — each  become  to  a  certain  extent  a  sort  ot 
Rossetti  trade  mark.  Similarly  his  colouring  became 
dull,  ostentatiously  peculiar,  a  contrast  to  his  former 
wealth  and  richness  in  this  particular,  and  he  fell  into 
a  mannerism  of  heavy  shadowing.  In  short,  his 
early  works,  like  those  of  Michael  Angelo,can  always 
be  recognised  by  their  leonine  strength  ;  his  later 
by  their  weak  points  ;  as  was  the  case,  too,  with 
Balthasar  Denner. 

We  can  thus  say  of  him  as  of  many  another  great 
artist,  whose  later  days  were  dimmed  by  an  envious 
fate,  he  died  not  too  soon  for  his  fame. 


II 

Of  Rossetti's  art  at  the  commencement  of  his 
career  much  has  already  been  said.  Both  the  move- 
ments which  produced  all  great  artists  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  namely,  the  passing  away  of  the 
existing  ideals,  the  longing  for  a  more  intimate  com- 
munion with   Nature,  find   intimate  expression   in 


Bancroft  CoUccUon,  America 


Photo.  Maiiselia-  Co. 


LADY  LILITH 

{Before painting  over) 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        51 


Rossctti's  art.  From  his  works  themselves,  especially 
the  Childhood  of  Mary  Virgin  and  the  Annunciatioriy 
this  is  perhaps  not  so  clear  as  from  the  course  which 
Rossetti's  own  development  took,  and,  above  all, 
from  the  literary  witnesses  who  speak  of  the  artistic 
opinions  of  Rossetti  and  his  friends.  Outwardly 
these  pictures  have  indeed  a  certain  similarity  with 
the  works  of  the  German  Nazarene  school ;  and  only 
the  knowledge  which  we  have  from  other  quarters 
that  wc  are  dealing  with  absolutely  different  natures 
enables  us  to  understand  the  great  difference  which 
exists  between  the  works  of  these  two  groups.  A 
certain  cold  reserved  imperfection  is  the  result  on  the 
one  hand  of  youthful  want  of  skill,  on  the  other 
hand  of  foolish  voluntary  renunciation.  A  mystic 
haze  lies  in  both  cases  over  the  work,  but  in  the  one 
case  it  is  the  indistinctness  of  the  lifeless  faith  which 
misuses  the  symbol  for  the  enthralment  of  the  mind, 
while  in  the  other  the  child  of  poetic  longing  sees  in 
the  symbol  the  key  to  inspire  his  fantasy.  A  certain 
similarity  between  the  types  of  both  groups  may 
perhaps  be  caused  by  the  mere  coincidence  of  their 
being  contemporary.  This  extends  to  such  pictures 
as  Genevieve  (after  Coleridge)  and  to  the  water- 
colour,  Dante  painting  the  Angel  on  the  Anniversary  of 
Beatrice's  Death. 

This  Dante  picture  is  the  first  of  that  great  series 
of  pictures  which  Rossetti  consecrated  to  the  life 
and  the  works  of  his  famous  Italian  namesake.  It 
represents  a  scene  which  is  described  in  the  "Vita 
Nuova."    "  On  that  day  which  completed  the  year 


52        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

since  my  lady  had  been  called  to  the  company  of 
the  Citizens  of  Eternal  Life,  remembering  me  of 
her  as  I  sat  alone,  I  betook  myself  to  draw  the 
resemblance  of  an  angel  upon  certain  tablets.  And 
while  I  did  this,  chancing  to  turn  my  head,  I 
perceived  that  some  were  standing  beside  me  to  whom 
I  should  have  given  courteous  welcome,  and  that 
they  were  observing  what  I  did  ;  also  I  learned 
afterwards  that  they  had  been  there  a  while  before 
I  had  observed  them.  Perceiving  whom  I  arose  to 
salute  them,  and  said:  "Another  was  with  me."  The 
principal  other  Dante  scenes  which  Rossetti  chose 
for  his  pictures  are  :  The  "  Meeting  with  Beatrice 
on  Earth "  (Vita  Nuova,  chap.  2)  and  "  The 
Meeting  with  Beatrice  in  Paradise"  (Divina  Com- 
media),  "Beatrice  at  a  Marriage-feast  denies  Dante 
her  Salutation"  (Vita  Nuova,  chap.  10),  "Giotto 
painting  the  Portrait  of  Dante,"  "Paolo  and 
Francesca,"  "  Dante's  Vision  of  Rachel  and  Leah 
(Purgatorio,  xxviii),  "La  donna  della  Finestra" 
(Vita  Nuova),  "Beata  Beatrix"  (Vita  Nuova), 
and  "Dante's  Dream"  (Vita  Nuova,  chap.  18). 
In  almost  all  of  these  the  Beatrice  is  Miss  Siddal. 
We  will  specially  mention  three:  ' II Soliito  di  Beatrice 
(1859),  Beata  Beatrix  (1863)  and  Dante's  Dream 
(1871-81). 

As  early  as  the  year  1849  Rossetti  had  made  a 
pen-and-ink  drawing  of  the  "Salutation  of  Beatrice." 
This  also  appears  as  a  combined  set  of  paintings 
with  Daniels  Amor  as  centre-piece,  but  showing  too 
the  earthly  scene,  the  meeting  in  one  of  the  streets  of 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        53 


Florence,  as  it  actually  might  have  taken  place. 
This  is  reversed  in  the  case  of  the  paintings  in  oils 
in  1859  on  a  cupboard  for  William  Morris's  house 
at  Upton.  In  this  work  the  note  of  Pre-Raphaehtism 
no  longer  rings  out.  I  have  only  given  a  repro- 
duction of  the  one  panel,  the  Meeting  in  Paradise^ 
because  it  is  a  particularly  interesting  sign  of  develop- 
ment. For  not  only  can  we  say  that  with  such  a 
picture  Rossetti  bids  farewell  to  Pre-Raphaelitism, 
he  indicates  at  the  same  time  the  path  which  he 
will  take  from  that  time  onward.  Any  one  seeing 
the  picture  for  the  first  time  will  be  surprised  how 
it  already  expresses  what  the  most  celebrated 
exponent  of  Pre-Raphaelitism  has  to  say.  The 
two  angels  to  the  right  might  in  fact  have  been 
painted  by  Burne-Jones.  They  are  exactly  his  type. 
This  is  also  true  of  the  angels  on  the  picture  of  the 
Blessed  Damozel  and  of  the  Ministrants  on  Dante'' s 
Dream^  two  works  of  Rossetti's  of  a  later  period  in 
which  he  consciously  delighted  in  a  return  to  the 
style  of  bygone  years.  The  Beata  Beatrix  represents 
the  splendid  memorial  which  Rossetti  erected  to  his 
dead  wife.  In  it  he  painted  her  features  from 
memory.  As  a  prelude  to  this  work  he  himself  once 
wrote  :  "  The  picture  (Beata  Beatrix)  illustrates  the 
"Vita  Nuova,"  embodying  symbolically  the  death  of 
Beatrice  as  treated  in  that  work.  The  picture  is 
not  intended  at  all  to  represent  death,  but  to  render 
it  under  the  semblance  of  a  trance,  in  which  Beatrice, 
seated  at  a  balcony  overlooking  the  city,  is  suddenly 
rapt  from   earth   to  heaven.     You  will  remember 


54        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


how  Dante  dwells  on  the  desolation  of  the  city  in 
connection  with  the  incident  of  her  death,  and  for 
this  reason  I  have  introduced  it  as  my  background, 
and  made  the  figures  of  Dante  and  Love  passing 
through  the  street,  and  gazing  ominously  on  one 
another,  conscious  of  the  event  ;  while  the  bird,  a 
messenger  of  death,  drops  the  poppy  between  the 
hands  of  Beatrice.  She,  through  her  shut  lids,  is 
conscious  of  a  new  world,  as  expressed  in  the  last 
words  of  the  "VitaNuova" — "  Quellabeata  Beatrix 
che  gloriosamente  mira  nella  fascia  di  colui  qui  est 
per  omnia  saecula  benedictus."  (That  blessed 
Beatrice  who  now  gazeth  continually  on  His  coun- 
tenance "who  is  blessed  throughout  all  ages.") 

Beata  'Beatrix  may  be  considered  a  landmark  in 
Rossetti's  works.  Having  passed  over  from  pre- 
Raphaelitism  to  Dante,  he  had  thus  come  to  the 
romantic  Middle  Ages.  In  addition  to  the  other 
Dante  pictures  he  paints  a  series  of  poetically  rich 
illustrations  of  the  Arthurian  legend,  endless  pas- 
sionate scenes  in  glowing  colours  such  as  The 
Laboratory^  Borgia^  The  Blue  Bower^  La  belle 
dame  sans  Merely  Bonifazio' s  Mistress^  Lucrezia 
Borgia^  in  all  of  which  the  ground  note  is  "  Roman- 
ticism."" Romanticism  it  is  which  offers  the  widest 
scope  to  fantasy  of  form,  and  encourages  him  in  an 
unmeasured  increase  of  his  colour  effects.  The 
passionate  depth  of  his  colouring  far  exceeds  that  of 
the  old  Venetian  school.  In  the  evolution  of  this 
richness  of  colour  he  sees  his  goal  as  painter,  and  con- 
tinually the  feeling  with   him   becomes  more  and 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       55 

more  insistent  that  it  is  best  displayed  in  portraying 
with  simplicity  that  most  beautiful  of  existing  sub- 
jects— woman.  With  the  creation  of  Beata  Beatrixy 
for  which  much  of  his  preceding  work  had  prepared 
the  way,  this  perception  seems  to  have  become 
deeply  rooted. 

Now  follows  a  long  series  of  splendid  female  half 
figures,  forming  the  master's  life's  work,  to  which 
in  addition  to  Bocca  Bacciata  (1859),  Reg'ina  Cordium 
(1861),  and  Fair  Rosamondy  I  reckon  a.ho  Belco/ore 
(1863),  Jure/ia  {iS62)y  Lady  Li /it  h  {iS64.)y  Fenus 
Verticordia  (1864),  //  Ramoscello  {i%(i$)^  The  Beloved 
(1865-6),  Monna  Vanna  (1866),  Sibylla  Palmifera 
(1860-70),/^//"  Cafttr(i867),  The  Loving  Cup  (1867), 
Aurea  Catena  (crayon,  1868),  Reverie  (the  same, 
1868),  La  donna  delta  Fiamma  (ditto,  1870),  Silence 
(ditto,  1870),  Mariana  (1870),  Lady  with  Fan 
(crayon,  1870),  Pandora  (1871),  Water  Willoiu 
(1871),  Veronica  Veronese  (1802)  La  Ghirlandata 
(1873),  Proserpina  (1873-7),  The  damsel  of  Sanct 
Grael  (1874),  La  hello  Mano  (1875),  The  Blessed 
Damozel  (1876-7),  Mnemosyne  (1876),  Astarte 
Syriaca  (1877),  Sea-Spell  (1877),  Ficmmetta  (1878), 
La  donna  delta  Finestra  (1879),  The  Day  Dream 
(1880),  and  La  Pia  (1881).  In  this  long  list  every- 
thing is  not  of  the  same  merit,  although  it  does  not 
contain  any  replicas  in  more  or  less  disguised  form. 
His  fantasy  first  entered  the  service  of  womanly 
charm,  then  that  of  womanly  dignity.  At  the 
commencement  unconscious  emotion  is  the  motive 
power  of  his  work,  and  wonderful  female  forms 


56       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

arise,  marvellously  painted,  lavishly  endowed  with 
beauty,  bodily  and  artistic.  After  the  circle  of  his 
adherents  had  been  intoxicated  by  the  splendour  of 
his  creations  there  seems  no  doubt  that  Rossetti 
himself  became  conscious  of  this  power.  His  genius 
became  fettered,  he  began  to  aim  at  charm,  at  an 
all-compelling  attraction,  at  all  which  formerly  came 
naturally  when  he  simply  went  on  painting  without 
this  special  purpose.  This  is  why  in  course  of  time 
some  of  his  heroines  seem  to  wish  too  openly  to 
captivate.  Instead  of  tender  they  appear  sentimental, 
instead  of  graceful  affected,  and  in  the  worst  cases 
the  faces  are  empty  and  mawkish. 

The  period  of  the  more  dignified  female  figures 
really  only  begins  after  Rossetti  had  lost  som.e  of 
his  ingenuousness.  Thus  it  appears  to  me  that  the 
best  of  his  deeper  works  does  not  reach  the  same 
standard  as  the  most  excellent  of  those  in  lighter 
vein.  The  crown  of  these  was  once  the  splendid 
Lady  L///V/7, before  Rossetti  himself,  with  a  regrettable 
want  of  self-criticism,  endeavoured  to  improve  by 
painting  over,  and  thus  spoiled  it.  Fortunately  we 
possess  photographs  at  least  of  this  masterpiece  as  it 
originally  appeared. 

A  truly  dazzling  woman,  in  whom  each  detail 
has  arrived  at  the  point  of  the  most  complete  per- 
fection, sits  in  an  armchair,  carelessly  leaning  back 
and  most  luxuriously  dressed.  One  is  not  reminded 
by  anything  of  the  deficiencies  of  the  time  of  ado- 
lescence, and  nothing  gives  even  a  premonition  of 
the  autumn  of  impending  decay.     Breathing  among 


'/'.  G.  liobeytson  Co/leclion.  London  Photo.  MayisellS-  Co 

PROSERPINE   (REPLICA) 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       57 

roses,  surrounded  by  the  splendour  of  other  flowers 
and  the  masterpieces  of  choice  artists,  she  combs  out 
her  wonderful  hair.  Not  a  single  feature  betrays 
mindless  empty  vanity.  Not  a  look  permits  us  even 
the  thought  that  this  woman  could  wish  to  employ 
this  Heaven-sent  gift  of  beauty  for  ulterior  motives. 
As  with  Galatea  become  flesh  she  knows  herself  to 
be  beautiful  beyond  measure  without  self-com- 
placency, from  love  of  truth  alone. 

It  appears  to  me  probable  that  Rossetti  created 
this  picture  quite  in  this  spirit,  without  putting  any 
other  construction  on  it.  Perhaps  it  was  with  him 
as  with  Bocklin,  who  also  created  works  of  art  to 
which  friends  afterwards  assigned  titles  of  their  own. 
But,  unlike  the  latter,  Rossetti  may  have  perhaps 
lent  an  ear  to  the  words  of  these  friends  before  the 
work  was  absolutely  completed.  And  so  this  won- 
derful woman  at  last  became  Lilith,  that  witch-wife 
of  Adam,  who,  fleeing  before  him  as  a  wicked 
temptress,  was  spirited  away  through  the  air.  The 
painter's  art  should  therefore  have  consisted  in  forcing 
us  to  look  upon  Lilith's  contemplation  of  her  charms 
as  self-conscious.  The  combing  of  her  tempting 
golden  locks  ought  to  have  resembled  that  of  the 
alluring  Loreley  with  her  fatal  charm. 

Later  on  Rossetti  himself  actually  deviated  from 
his  earlier  interpretation — which  indeed  derives  no 
confirmation  from  the  expression  of  this  woman's 
features.  He  designs  her  again  as  simply  a  per- 
sonification of  the  beauty  of  the  body,  in  contra- 
distinction to  Sibylla  Palmiferny  in  which  he  desig- 


58        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTl 


nates    the    personification   of    the    beauty  of  the 
soul. 

We  are  here  again  confronted  with  an  instance 
which  shows  us  how  little  the  artist  himself  is  in 
the  position  to  judge  of  his  own  work.  It  is  indeed 
true  that  as  to  size  and  arrangement  these  two 
paintings  are  companion  pictures.  But  while  Rossetti 
had  found  an  altogether  ideal  model  for  Lilith  in 
Fanny  Cornforth,  he  could  not  spiritualise  the  really 
very  pretty  face  of  Miss  Wilding,  who  sat  to  him 
for  Sibylla  Palmifera.  It  was  not  till  later  that 
Fate  offered  him  another  model  for  this.  The  sub- 
lime type  of  his  more  serious  muse  was  the  future 
Mrs.  William  Morris,  who  appears  again  and  again 
on  all  the  pictures  in  which  he  strikes  a  more  lofty 
note.  I  should,  therefore,  not  contrast  the  Lilith 
with  Sibylla  Palmifera,  but  with  Proserpina  as  the 
personification  of  the  beauty  of  the  soul. 

She  stands  in  a  gloomy  passage  of  the  lower  regions 
penetrated  by  a  pale  bluish  moonbeam,  holding  in 
her  hand  the  bitten  pomegranate,  one  single  grain  of 
which,  if  once  eaten,  chains  her  there  for  ever. 
From  her  noble  features  speaks  forth,  in  the  most 
wonderful  manner,  the  meditative  melancholy,  the 
soft  sadness  of  the  loving  soul,  who,  if  not  for  ever, 
must  yet  tarry  for  many  moons  far  from  all  she 
most  desires. 

Of  all  the  many  and  various  pictures  for  which 
Mrs.  William  Morris  sat  to  him,  Proserpina  appears 
to  me  to  be  the  one  least  labouring  under  poverty  of 
thought,  to  be  that  in  which  the    beauty  of  this 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       59 


woman  appears  to  me  most  happily  caught.*  In 
most  of  his  other  examples,  e.g.^  the  Donna  della 
Finestra^  Astarte  Syriaca^  Pandora^  and  Mnemosyne^ 
his  creative  strength  appears  to  be  paralysed  by  having 
before  him  so  spiritualised  and  earnest  a  type  ;  and 
he  over-accentuates,  as  if  he  feared  lest  one  might 
not  recognise  these  merits  without  his  emphasising 
them.  In  this  he  reminds  one  of  a  bad  dramatist, 
who  has  no  confidence  in  his  own  talents,  and  so 
has  to  explain  by  an  aside  that  which  really  ought 
to  come  to  us  by  the  dialogue  alone. 

In  this  constellation  of  Rossetti's  creations  it  seems 
to  me  that  the  brightest  radiance  streams  forth  from 
that  splendid  picture.  The  Beloved  or  The  Bride  (y. 
Frontispiece),  which  I  saw  in  London  at  an  exhibition 
in  1889,  and  later  on  in  1896  again  in  the  home  of 
its  fortunate  possessor  George  Rae,  at  Birkenhead, 
near  Liverpool.  In  this  opinion  to  my  great  satis- 
faction I  am  supported  by  F.  G.  Stephens,  the  former 
Pre-Raphaelite  brother  of  Rossetti,  and  gladly  add 
my  testimony  on  this  point  to  his.  Just  as  it  is 
difficult  to  exactly  describe  a  Madonna  by  Gianbellini, 
a  Holy  Conversation  by  Giorgione,  or  coming  to 
more  recent  times,  a  colour-symphony  of  Turner, 
or  to  say  the  last  word  on  a  Moreau,  or  a  Bocklin, 
so  it  is  almost  impossible  to  convey  a  real  idea  of 
the  beauty  of  this  woHc.     This  beauty,  which  lies 

*  Editor's  Note. — I  may  be  perhaps  permitted  here  to 
add  my  testimony  to  the  author's  verdict,  having  had  the 
privilege  of  meeting  this  marvellous  woman  at  a  time 
when  her  beauty  was  still  at  its  zenith. 


6o        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 


above  all  in  the  colour  and  painting,  can  only  be 
enjoyed  by  the  eye,  not  conveyed  by  verbal  descrip- 
tion. The  commission  for  this  picture  was  given 
already  in  1863  ;  and  it  is  one  of  those  few  master- 
pieces of  Rossetti  which  has  not  passed  out  of  the 
hands  of  its  original  possessor.  It  is  the  embodiment 
of  the  conception  aroused  by  the  Song  of  Solomon 
inthemindof  the  most  richlyimaginativeand  passion- 
ate painter  of  the  nineteenth  century;  and  shows  us 
the  culminating  point  of  the  wonderful  pastoral  play, 
the  passage  where  the  splendid  Sulamite,  after  with- 
standing temptation,  utters  the  words :  "  My  Beloved 
is  mine,  and  I  am  his  ;  let  him  kiss  me  with  the 
kisses  of  his  mouth,  for  my  love  is  better  than 
wine." 

"  The  picture  comprises — as  if  they  had  halted  in 
a  marriage  procession,  towards  the  spot  where  the 
enraptured  bridegroom  awaits  them — five  life-size 
adult  maidens  and  a  negro  girl.  This  last,  in  the 
front  of  the  group,  and  bearing  a  mass  of  roses  in  a 
golden  vase,  is  adorned  with  barbaric  jewellery,  all 
of  which  harmonises  with  her  dusky  skin,  which, 
although  it  has  the  true  Titanesque  ruddy  undertint, 
is  of  a  deep  bronze-brown  surface  hue.  The 
negress  and  her  burthen  are  intended  to  contrast 
intensely  with  the  costume  and  face  of  the  bride 
herself,  who  is  clad  in  an  apple-green  robe,  as  lustrous 
as  silk  and  as  splendid  as  gold  and  embroideries  of 
flowers  and  leaves  in  natural  colours  can  make  it. 
This  garment  and  its  decorations  support  the  colour 
of  the   dark   maid's  skin   and  heighten  the  value  of 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       6i 


the  pure  red  and  white  of  the  bride's  carnations ; 
while  the  contours  of  the  African's  face  and  form 
contrast  with  the  Caucasian  charm  of  the  bride,  her 
noble  countenance,  and  *  amorous-lidded  eyes.'  .  .  . 

"  Besides  her  robe  the  bride  wears  about  her  head 
and  throat  a  veil  of  tissue  differing  in  its  green  from 
that  of  the  robe,  and  above  her  forehead  rises  an 
aigrette  of  scarlet  enamel  and  gold,  that  resembles  in 
some  respects  the  peculiar  head-dress  of  ancient 
Egyptian  royalty  ;  this  is  set  like  a  coronet  upon  her 
hair.  While  advancing  towards  the  bridegroom 
with  an  action  at  once  graceful  and  natural,  she, 
half  thoughtfully,  half  in  pride  of  supreme  loveliness, 
has  moved  the  tissue  from  her  face  and  throat. 
With  the  same  movement  she  has  thrown  backwards 
a  large  ringlet  of  her  hair,  revealing  the  softened 
dignity  of  her  love-laden  eyes,  as  well  as  her  face, 
which  is  exquisitely  fair  and  fine,  and  has  the  least 
hint  of  blushes  within  the  skin,  as  though  the  heart 
of  the  lady  quickened,  while  we  see  there  is  tender- 
ness in  her  look,  but  voluptuous  ardour  no- 
where. .  .  . 

"This  work  indicates  the  consummation  or 
Rossetti's  powers  in  the  highest  order  of  modern 
art,  and  is  in  perfect  harmony  with  that  poetic 
inspiration  which  is  found  in  every  one  of  his  more 
ambitious  pictures. 

"  This  example  can  only  be  called  Venetian 
because  of  the  splendid  colouring  which  obtains  in 
it "  says  Stephens.  "  Tintoret  produced  works 
which  assort   most  fortunately  with   this  one,  and 


62        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

his  finely  dramatic  mode  of  designing  reappears,  so 
to  say,  in  The  Beloved.  But  in  order  to  prevent 
misunderstanding  we  must  hasten  to  add  that 
Tintoretto's  colour  was  never  so  clear  and  bright, 
although  equally  glowing." 

"  The  technique  is  so  fine  that  it  leaves  nothing 
to  be  desired,  even  in  the  lustrousness  of  the  gold 
vase,  in  the  varied  brilliancy  of  the  robe  of  the  bride, 
in  the  subtle  delicacy  of  the  carnations,  solidly  and 
elaborately  modelled  as  they  are,  and  varied  to  suit  the 
nature  of  each  of  the  figures.  Rossetti's  Beloved  is 
in  English  art  what  Spenser's  gorgeous  and  passionate 
"Epithalamium  "  is  in  English  verse,  and,  if  not 
more  rapturous,  it  is  more  compact  of  sumptuous 
elements." 

From  considering  the  Dante  picture  of  Rossetti's 
middle  period,  from  his  Beata Beatrix  we  have  reached 
these  representations  of  the  female  half-figure  which 
are  the  jewels  of  Rossetti's  life-work  and  culminate 
in  so  truly  wonderful  a  picture  as  The  Bride.  Even 
when  his  pictures  seem  apparently  connected  with 
Dante,  such  as  the  T)onna  della  Finestra^  they  do  not 
really  derive  their  origin  from  Dante,  but  spring 
from  Rossetti's  conviction  that  the  highest  for  him 
lay  in  the  representation  of  simple  womanly  beauty. 
It  was  this  conviction  that  caused  him  to  deviate 
from  his  former  ideals,  from  Pre-Raphaelitism,  from 
Romanticism,  from  the  Dante  cult  as  such.  If,  in 
spite  of  this,  he  yet  produces  two  great  Dante 
pictures,  we  may  regard  it  as  a  token  of  the 
weakening  of  his  creative  power,  which  caused  him, 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTl         63 


towards  the  end  of  his  life,  to  revert  to  the  work 
of  his  early  years. 

The  Blessed  Damozel  and  Dante'' s  Dream  are  beau- 
tiful, but  it  is  a  calm,  self-conscious  beauty,  of  which 
the  artist  is  entirely  master — not  that  beauty  which 
streams  passionately  and  vehemently  from  the  finger- 
tips of  the  self-forgetting  genius.  Almost  a  genera- 
tion had  passed  after  composing  this  wonderful  poem 
before  he  turned  to  it  again  to  immortalise  it  on 
the  canvas.  But  a  great  work  can  only  be  created 
once  ;  an  attempt  to  again  live  through  the  past 
becomes  mere  repetition  devoid  of  the  vital  spark. 
We  see  this  in  the  engraver's  art.  There  we  find 
artists  who  complete  their  work  down  to  the  smallest 
detail,  line  for  line,  and  then  transfer  it  to  the  steel 
plate.  Their  work  remains  a  mere  cold  echo  of  the 
pen  and  ink  drawing.  Great  artists,  however, 
sketch  a  few  bold  outlines  on  the  plate,  and  the 
real  work  of  transcribing  Nature  into  a  system 
of  lines  does  not  take  place  till  they  work  them- 
selves with  the  engraving  needle.  The  picture 
is  thus  created  not  before  but  during  the  act  of 
engraving,  and  such  work  alone  shows  clear  signs 
of  real  spontaneity. 

Dante's  Dream^  Rossetti's  largest  picture,  is  one 
of  those  the  effect  of  which  unfortunately  he  himself 
diminished  by  painting  over.  Beatrice's  hair,  origi- 
nally dark,  is  now  golden.  Whilst  two  virgins  lift 
the  veil  from  the  dead  Beatrice,  the  God  of  Love, 
who  leads  Dante  by  the  hand,  kisses  her.  Wrapt 
in  deep,  grave  thought  Dante  stands  aside,  regarding 


64       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

the  scene.     The  picture  illustrates  the  passage  in  the 
"  Vita  Nuova." 

"  Then  Love  spoke  thus :   Now  all  shall  be  made  clear  ; 
Come  and  behold  our  Lady  where  she  lies" 

These  idle  fantasies 
Then  carried  me  to  see  my  Lady  deady 

And  when  I  entered. 
Ladies  I  sazv  with  a  veil  covering  her  ; 
And  with  her  was  such  very  humbleness. 
That  she  appealed  to  say,  I  am  at  peace. ^^  * 

Although  this  introduction  to  Rossetti's  art  can 
do  little  more  than  cast  a  few  lights  on  the  chief 
works  of  the  artist — the  pre-Raphaelite  pictures,  the 
Romantic  and  Dante  paintings,  and  above  all  the 
marvellous  female  half-figures  of  his  prime — ^justice 
requires  us  at  least  to  mention  his  less  important 
works.  For  it  will  help  us  to  appreciate  more  fully 
this  master,  who  in  addition  to  all  this  was  a  most 
gifted  poet. 

With  the  exception  of  Dante  and  the  creators  of 
the  Arthurian  legend,  he  went  for  his  greatest  works 
to  no  one  poet  for  inspiration.  But  he  occupied 
himself  with  many  others,  and,  though  the  result 
was  chiefly  sketches  and  small  compositions,  this  may 
be  a  matter  of  chance.  From  Homer  he  took  the 
subject  of  his  somewhat  crowded  canvas  Cassandra. 
Although  he  had  been  familiar  with  Shakespeare 
from  hisearliest  youth  he  drew  upon  him  but  rarely, 
merely   for  a  sketch    for  Lady   Macbeth^  and   for 

*  Rossetti's  "Early  Italian  Poems,"  i86i,p.  261. 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       65 

pictures  from  "  Measure  for  Measure,"  "  Much  Ado 
about  Jslothing,"  and  Hamlet."  His  Hamlet  and 
Ophelia  presents  a  great  contrast  to  the  commonplace 
illustrations  of  that  period,  not  only  by  the  intellec- 
tual type  of  both  figures,  but  also  by  the  colour  and 
artistic  charm  of  execution.  He  drew  also  upon 
Coleridge,  Poe,  Browning,  Allingham,  W.  B.  Scott, 
Goethe,  and  Heine  for  his  subjects  ;  and  illustrated 
an  edition  of  Tennyson's  poems. 

It  is  worthy  of  note  that  he  once  even  conde- 
scended to  a  humorous  picture.  Dr.  Johnson  at  the 
M'ltre^  in  addition  to  great  humour,  shows  most 
excellent  artistic  qualities.  The  story  goes  that  two 
young  ladies  from  Staffordshire  once  applied  to 
the  famous  Dr.  Johnson  for  advice  on  the  subject 
of  Methodism,  in  which  sect  they  were  particularly 
interested.  He  boldly  invited  them  to  dinner  at  the 
Mitre  Tavern  to  discuss  the  subject  with  them  ; 
but  when  the  meal  was  over  took  one  of  them  upon 
his  knee,  and  fondled  her  so  that  quite  other  than 
dogmatic  arguments  came  into  both  their  heads. 
This  is  the  episode  depicted  by  Rossetti. 

We  must  not  omit  reference  to  what  may  be 
termed  the  moral  pictures.  Found.,  Hesterna  Rosa.,  and 
Mary  Jldzgdalene  before  the  Gate  of  Simon  the  Pharisee. 
Of  all  three  many  replicas  exist,  and  in  all  of  them 
the  artist  takes  the  part  of  the  stern  judge.  To  this 
he  may  have  felt  impelled  more  from  artistic  than 
moral  conviction.  For  our  present  state  of  society 
the  standpoint  of  the  stern  moral  judge  is  in  Art 
the  only  possible  one.     Any  one  wishing  to  combat 

£ 


66       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

this  standpoint  may  do  so  by  speeches  or  writings, 
even  through  the  medium  of  poetry  but  nor  in  forma- 
tive Art.  For  if  a  work  of  Art  is  to  point  a  moral, 
to  appeal  to  the  understanding  of  men,  the  subject 
thereby  acquires  such  an  importance  that  the  actual 
form  no  longer  takes  the  predominance.  This  was 
unconsciously  felt  by  an  artist  of  such  refinement  of 
thought  as  Rossetti,  and  so  he  can  only  approach  a 
subject  when  he  feels  in  accord  and  sympathy  with 
his  public. 

Finally,  we  must  mention  Rossetti's  skill  as 
a  portraitist.  This  was  displayed  not  so  much  in 
oil  paintings  as  in  water-colours,  and  especially  in 
drawings,  crayons,  pen  and  ink,  and  pencil  ;  and 
reached  a  high  degree  of  excellence,  forming  a  part 
of  his  life's  work  not  to  be  under-estimated. 


Ill 

Gabriel  Rossetti  was  born  at  Vasto  (Naples)  on 
February  28,  1783.  He  was  librettist  at  the  opera 
and  custodian  of  the  Naples  Museum,  but  because 
of  his  participation  in  the  insurrectionary  movements 
of  the  years  1820  and  1821  had  to  flee  the  country, 
and  after  a  short  stay  at  Malta  came  to  London  in 
1824.  Then,  two  years  later,  he  married  Frances 
Maria  Lavinia  Polidore,  the  daughterof  a  compatriot, 
whose  mother  was  an  Englishwoman.  In  1831 
he  became  Professor  of  Italian  at  King's  College. 
He   made   it  the  chief  object  of  his  life  to  prove 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI       67 


in  various  writings  the  anti-papal  tendency  of  Dante, 
from  the  latter's  works.  One  of  his  books  was  put 
upon  the  Index.  To  these  parents  was  born  on 
May  12,  1828,  at  London,  a  second  child  and  first 
son,  our  artist,  Gabriel  Charles  Dante  Rossetti.  He 
himself  later  on  signed  his  name  as  only  Dante 
Gabriel  Rossetti.  He  was  first  sent  to  a  preparatory 
school,  then  to  King's  College  till  he  was  fourteen, 
when  he  decided  upon  becoming  an  artist  and 
attended  Carey's  Drawing  School,  and  later  on  the 
classes  at  the  Royal  Academy.  Then  for  a  short 
time  he  became  a  pupil  of  Ford  Madox  Brown.  In 
1849  he  produced  his  first  important  picture.  Long 
before  this,  however,  his  wonderful  poetic  talent  had 
shown  itself.  His  first  ballad,  which  was  printed 
privately,  he  wrote  as  early  as  1840:  "  Retro  me 
Sathanas."  "The  Choice,"  "The  Portrait,"  and 
the  wonderful  "Blessed  Damozel  "  had  been  written 
in  1847.  During  the  years  1849  and  1850  he 
called  into  existence  the  movement  known  as  "Pre- 
Raphaelitism."  In  the  beginning  of  the  fifties  he 
visited  France  and  the  Netherlands.  Strange  to  say 
he  never  visited,  nor  wished  to  visit  Italy,  nor  indeed 
was  he  very  partial  to  travelling.  The  decade  of 
the  fifties  was  for  him  a  period  of  marked  develop- 
ment both  as  poet  and  painter.  Ruskin's  friend- 
ship almost  freed  him  from  material  cares,  Eleanor 
Elizabeth  Siddal,  with  whom  he  became  acquainted 
in  1849,  to  whom  he  became  betrothed  in  1851, 
and  whom  he  married  in  i860,  was  the  source  of 
the  deepest  emotions  of  his  soul. 


68        DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

In  addition  to  his  pictures  it  was  about  this  time 
that  he  wrote  his  valuable  translations  of  Dante  and 
other  early  Italian  writers,  which  were  completed 
and  first  published  in  1861.  The  sudden  death  of 
his  wife  on  February  1 1,1 862, interrupted  hisdevelop- 
ment.  He  first  of  all  found  comfort  in  a  new  pur- 
suit, his  talent  for  collecting.  It  was  partly  from 
him  that  the  passion  for  Japanese  curios.  Delft,  and 
old  furniture  arose,  which  later  on  became  so  general. 
He  then  erected  one  memorial  after  another  to  his 
wife  by  painting  wonderful  female  half-figures.  The 
earlier  of  these,  or,  at  any  rate,  the  first,  still  bore  her 
features  ;  later  on  other  beauties  took  her  place. 
Women  and  girls  in  all  positionsof  life  offered  them- 
selves to  him  as  models. 

In  the  year  1870  his  collected  poems  appeared, 
and  immediately  assured  him  a  permanent  position 
by  the  side  of  Tennyson,  Browning,  and  Swinburne. 
After  this  height  came  an  abrupt  downfall.  Never 
very  strong  he  suffered  particularly  from  neuralgia, 
and,  as  a  consequence  of  this,  from  sleeplessness,  for 
which  a  well-meaning  acquaintance  advised  him  to 
try  chloral.  He  had  recourse  recklessly  to  this 
remedy,  and  increased  its  evil'effects  by  the  free  use 
of  alcohol,  to  which  he  had  recourse  to  overcome 
the  nausea  and  depression  which  the  chloral  had 
occasioned.  His  physical  and  mental  strength 
quickly  suffered.  When  in  October  1871  Robert 
Buchanan,  in  a  criticism  bearing  the  title,  "  The 
Fleshly  School  of  Poetry,"  charged  several  of 
Rossetti's  Sonnets  with  being  indecent,  he  was 
still  able  to  answer  with  a  dignified  retort,  entitled, 


DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI        69 

"The  Stealthy  School  of  Criticism."  But  when 
in  the  succeeding  year  the  criticism  was  enlarged 
and  appeared  in  pamphlet  form,  it  brought  about 
mental  derangement.  He  had  to  be  placed  under 
surveillance  in  a  doctor's  family,  there  made  an 
attempt  on  his  life,  and  was  only  saved  from  the 
consequences  of  this  attempt  by  the  timely  inter- 
vention of  Ford  Madox  Brown. 

The  responsibility  for  the  misery  of  the  last 
years  of  Rossetti's  life  may  well  be  thrown  on  the 
head  of  this  one  man,  the  writer  of  that  criticism. 
Even  though  he  afterwards  retracted  all  that  he  had 
said,  yet  he  cannot  for  one  moment  be  forgiven. 
Not  because  his  repentance  came  too  late,  but 
because  in  the  whole  history  of  criticism  there  has 
never  been  an  attack  which  was  so  unspeakably,  so 
wantonly  outrageous  as  this.  If  a  critic  can  cover 
with  filth  such  absolutely  chaste  sonnets  as  numbers 
eleven  to  twenty  of  the  "  House  of  Life,"  this 
cannot  be  entirely  explained  by  the  inversion  of  the 
phrase,  *'  To  the  pure  all  is  pure."  For  even  to 
such  a  person  there  is  not  one  single  passage  in  these 
poems,  as  faultless  in  art  as  in  their  morals,  on 
which  he  could  attempt  to  base  his  condemnation. 
And  when,  finally,  he  criticises  such  a  magnificent 
creation  as  "  A  Last  Confession  "  with  words  which 
would  only  be  suitable  for  the  most  dissolute  pro- 
duction, then  we  see  that  we  need  have  little  doubt 
as  to  this  critic's  faculty  of  judgment. 

The  last  decade  of  Rossetti's  life  passed  exceed- 
ingly sadly.  Hopelessly  ill,  suffering  from  the 
mania  of  persecution,  from  want  of  will  and  from 


70       DANTE  GABRIEL  ROSSETTI 

meJancholia,  he  lost  most  of  his  friends.  For  in  his 
lucid  intervals  he  appeared  a  normal  being  with 
whom  it  seemed  reasonable  to  be  offended,  and 
anger  and  distrust  were  expressed  in  such  a  manner 
that  men  were  tempted  to  forget  they  were  dealing 
with  a  sick  man. 

Occasional  trips  to  Scotland  and  different  parts 
of  England  only  effected  short  periods  of  improve- 
ment. Relief  was  only  brought  by  death,  which 
reached  him  on  April  9,  1882,  at  Birchington,  near 
Margate.  Strangely  enough  one  thing  remained  to 
him  through  all  his  years  of  suffering — his  power 
of  poesy.  His  "  Ballads  and  Sonnets "  which 
appeared  in  1881  are  scarcely  inferior  to  the  collec- 
tion which  appeared  eleven  years  earlier. 

His  oldest  and  most  faithful  friend  Ford  Madox 
Brown  designed  his  unpretentious  monument, which 
consists  of  three  reliefs  :  the  Temptation  in  the 
garden  of  Eden,  the  spiritual  union  of  Dante  and 
Beatrice,  and  the  Death  of  St.  Luke.  His  brother, 
who  still  survives,  wrote  his  epitaph. 

"  Here  sleeps  Gabriel  Charles  Dante  Rossetti, 
honoured  under  the  name  of  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti 
among  painters  as  a  painter  and  among  poets  as  a 
poet.  Born  in  London  of  parentage  mainly  Italian 
on  May  12,  1828.  Died  at  Birchington,  April  9, 
1882.  This  cruciform  monument,  bespoken  by 
Dante  Rossetti's  Mother,  was  designed  by  his 
lifelong  friend  Ford  Madox  Brown,  executed  by 
J.  and  H.  Patteson,  and  erected  by  his  brother 
William  and  his  sister  Christina  Rossetti." 


LIST  OF  ROSSETTI'S  WORKS   IN 
PUBLIC   COLLECTIONS. 


BIRMINGHAM. 
Corporation  Art  Gallery. 

"  Sir  Galahad  "  (  VVater-coloiir.) 

"  Beata  Beatrix"  (replica,  com- 
pleted by  Madox  Brown). 

'•  La  Donna  della  Finestra  "  (re- 
plica). 

"The  Boat  of  Love." 

CARDIFF. 
Public  Gallery. 

' '  Signor  Giuseppe  Maenza"  (i'wc 
Pencil  Drawings). 

DUBLIN. 

National  Gallery. 

"Miss  Jane  Burden"  (later, 
Mrs.  Morris) ;  Pen  and  Ink 
Dratving. 

LIVERPOOL. 

Walker  Art  Gallery. 

"  Dante's  Dream." 

LLANDAFF. 

Cathedral. 

Triptych :  "  The  Seed  of  David." 


LONDON. 
British  Museum  (Print 
Room). 
' '  Study  for  one  of  the  wall  paint- 
ings in  the  Union  Reading 
Room,  Oxford,"  and  other 
drawings. 

National  Portrait 
Gallery. 

Portrait  of  the  Artist,  by  him- 
self (Crayon  and  Pencil). 

"  Rossetti's  Mother  and  Sister 
Christina  (Crayon). 

Tate  Gallery. 
"The  Girlhood  of  Mary  Vir- 
gin." 
"  Ecce  Ancilla  Domini. 
"  Beata  Beatrix." 
"  Rosa  Triplex." 
Portrait  of  Mrs.  Morris. 

Victoria  and  Albert 
Museum. 
"  The  Daydream." 
"  Belcolore  or  Monna  Vanna" 

(replica). 
"Miss    Siddal"    (Pen    Draw- 
ing)- 


72    WORKS  IN  PUBLIC  COLLECTIONS 


'  Study  for  Mnemosyne,  or  the 
Lamp  of  Memory,"  and 
other  drawings. 

OXFORD. 

Taylorian  Museum. 

"Dante  Drawing  an  Angel" 
( Watef-colmcr). 

Union  Reading  Room. 

'  Sir  Launcelot  Before  the  Shrine 
of  the  Sangreal "  (Tempera 
■wall-pamting) 


STAINED  GLASS 
WIN  DO  WS. 
SCARBOROUGH. 
St.  Martin's  Church. 
Two   of   "Adam   and    Eve   in 
Paradise"  ;  seven  of  " The 
Parable  of  the  Vineyard  "  ; 
one  of  "  The  Crucifi.xion  "  ; 
six  of  "St.  George  and  the 
Dragon." 

LONDON. 

Christ  Church,  Albany 
Street. 
"  The  Sermon  on  the  Plain." 


WORKS  IN  PRIVATE  COLLECTIONS    73 


We  will  only  refer  to  three  private  collections. 
There  are  numerous  sketches,  drawings,  and  family 
portraits  in  the  possession  of  the  surviving  brother  in 
London,  William  Michael  Rossetti.  Among  existing 
collections  those  of  Mr.  Rae  and  Mr.  Murray  are 
particularly  worthy  of  special  mention. 


BIRKENHEAD. 
George  Rae. 
Oil  Paintings. 
"  Fazio's  Mistress." 
"  The  Beloved,  or  the  Bride." 
"  Monna  Vanna." 
"Sibylla  Palmifera." 
"A  Christmas  Carol." 
"  The  Damsel  of  Sanct  Grael.' ' 
"Miss  Fanny  Cornforth  (Mrs. 
Schott)." 

Water-colours. 
"Paolo     and     Francesca     da 

Rimini." 
"The  Damsel  of  Sanct  Grael." 
"The    Death   of    Breuse  sans 

Pitid" 
"  The  Chapel  Before  the  Lists." 
"  The  Tune  of  Seven  Towers." 
"  The  Blue  Closet." 
"  St.  George  and  Princess  Sabra." 
"  Lucrezia  Borgia." 
"Heart     of     the     Night,     or 

Mariana." 
"  Venus  Verticordia." 
"A  Fight  for  a  Woman." 


Crayon. 

"  Salutation       of       Beatrice 
(Triptych,     Pen    and    Ink 
Sketch). 

A  "Magdalene"  (Head). 
LONDON. 
C.  Fairfax  Murray. 
Oil  Paintings. 

"  Bocca  Baciata." 

"  Girl  at  a  Lattice." 

"  Amor,  Amans,  Amata  (Panel 
for  a  Sofa). 

"  Belcolore." 

Water-colours. 

"The  Laboratory." 

' '  La  Belle  Dame  sans  Merci.  ' 

"  A  Christmas  Carol." 

"Giotto  Painting  Dante"  (re- 
plica). 

"Bonifazio's  Mistress." 

"Dr.  Johnson  and  the  Methodist 
Ladies." 

"  Christ." 

"The  Merciless  Lady." 

"  Tibullus'  return  to  Delia." 

"  Lucrezia  Borgia"  (replica). 


In  addition  to  these  Mr.  Murray  possesses  per- 
haps the  greatest  number  of  Rossetti's  drawings  and 
studies  in  any  one  collection,  among  them  many 
portraits  and  important  sketches,  six  cartoons  for 
glass  windows  of  St.  George  and  the  Dragon,  and 
the  only  two  portions  known  of  Rossetti's  etching, 
The  Rose  Garden. 

F 


Printed  by  Ballantyne  <Sr»  Co.  Limited 
Tavistock  Street,  London 


SOME    PRESS   OPINIONS 

The  Times. — *^  Another  series  of  little  art  monograpJis  -which  is  as 
attractive  in  format  as  any," 

The  Standard. — "  This  nicely  printed  liltk  volume  contains  repro- 
dtictions  of  some  of  the  more  famous  Bartolozzi  prints,  together 
"with  a  list  of  inostofthe  importaiit  ones." 

MCRNiNG  Post. — ^^  The  Langham  Series:  The  first  volume,  *  Barto- 
lozzi a7id  his  Pupils  in  E7igland,^  by  Mr.  Sehvyn  Brinton,  is  an 
excellent  summary  of  a  subject  m.ost  popular  at  the  present  time. 
It  should  prove  a  great  boon  to  the  collector." 

Pall  Mall  Gazette. — ^' Mr.  Brinton  is  himself  a  collector  and 
ktiows  his  subject  thoroughly.  The  vohime  is  illustrated,  and  should 
make  an  appeal  to  all  interested  in  the  art  of  engraving.^' 

"  Westminster  Gazette." — "  'Bartolozzi,'  by  Selwyn  Brinton  (A. 
Siegle),  is  the  first  of  what  promises  to  prove  a  series  of  very 
dainty  little  monographs  on  artistic  subjects.  .  .  .  Mr.  Selwyn 
Brinton,  whose  excellent  volumes  on  the  Italian  Renaissance  and 
Correggio  7vill  be  known  to  many  readers,  writes  of  his  subject 
with  adtnirable  knowledge  and  discriminatio7i ;  and  to  all  who 
would  learn  more  of  Bartolozzi  arid  his  work,  his  brightly  written 
pages,  which  are  embellished  by  many  dainty  illustrations ,  may 
be  cordially  commended." 

Academy  and  Literature. — "  Bartolozzi  and  his  Pupils  in  England." 
"  In  this  delightful  little  book  we  have  a  most  excellent  collection 
of  prints  from  the  master  .  .  .  We  have  in  complete,  cheap,  con- 
venient form,  well  indexed  and  nicely  printed  what  7nay  prove  a 
guide." 

Scotsman. — "  There  is  undoubtedly  a  considerable  body  of  collectors 
of  Bartolozzi' s  works  in  this  country,  arid  this  little  book  should 
serve  as  a  handbook  to  such  persons." 

Birmingham  Daily  Post. — "  The  first  vohcme  of  the  series,  '■Barto- 
lozzi and  his  Pupils  in  England,'  is  full  of  iriformation  to  the 
lovers  of  specimens  of  the  engravers'  art." 

The  Observer. — "  Well  produced  and  written  by  acktiowledged 
authorities^  these  new  little  books  will  probably  find  a  ready 
welcome. ' ' 

The  Sheffield  Independent. — "Mr.  Brinton  presents  us  with  a 
wholly  sympathetic  and  adequate  study  of  Bartolozzi s  work." 

Irish  Times  (Dublin). — "  '^  Bartolozzi  and  his  Pupils  in  England'  is 
a  charming  little  book  dealing  with  the  life  of  the  famous  engraver. 
Mr.  Bririton  writes  with  a  thorough  knowledge  of  his  subject." 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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